Review

Johann Sebastian Bach
The Art of Fugue Part 1: Contrapuncti 1–5:

Arranged by Ralph Sauer


Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Publisher: Cherry Classics Music
Date of Publication: 2008
URL: http://www.cherryclassics.com

Score and parts

Primary Genre: Trombone Ensembles - 4 trombones

The Art of Fugue is Bach’s final work, an awe-inspiring compendium of all possibilities of fugal composition, showing his unequalled mastery; 14 fugues and 4 canons of increasing complexity, all based on a single subject in D minor, culminating with a quadriplex fugue incorporating his musical signature, BACH. This was left unfinished on the composer’s untimely death, breaking off before the entry of the principal subject. Contrapuncti I & II are simple fugues; in III & IV the subject is presented in inversion with a chromatic second subject; V is the first of a group of 3 stretto fugues in contrary motion. The work was written and engraved in open score without indication of instrumentation, but most scholars agree that it was intended for study at the keyboard, all parts lying under the hands. However, complete performances on the keyboard are still comparatively few, and the majority of recordings are of arrangements for various combinations of instruments, including several for brass ensemble.

The original range of these first 5 fugues is C to c3; and Bach gave the final measures of Contrapunctus V in 6 parts. Ingenious compromises are needed to compress these textures to the compass of a trombone quartet, which does lead to some problems. There are numerous octave transpositions within each part and the original voices are distributed from part to part in the quartet. For example, Contrapunctus I begins with second voice in first part. First voice enters later in second part, an octave lower than originally written, a fourth below first part. First voice changes parts four times in this fugue, moving through the three upper parts. First and second voices cross over each other twice in IV, the longest of the set, and in V, the most complex. Much careful study and practice is needed to achieve satisfying balance and a sense of continuity in each voice. 

Bach’s score includes no dynamic markings, articulations or tempo indications, and the many such markings in this transcription, as in any other, are editorial. The key chosen for this edition is C minor. The work can be played by larger ensemble; optional octave divisi parts are included. This material is technically and intellectually challenging. Quite simply, it is the greatest piece of music ever made available for the medium of trombone quartet. 

-Keith Davies Jones
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada