Johann Sebastian Bach: Die Kunst der Fuga - The Art of Fugue Bob Van Asperen

• Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750): The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080:
• 1 Contrapunctus I 04:04
• 2 Contrapunctus II 02:56
• 3 Contrapunctus III 03:13
• 4 Contrapunctus IV 05:48
• 5 Canon 2 02:49
• 6 Contrapunctus V 03:55
• 7 Contrapunctus VI 04:34
• 8 Contrapunctus VII 05:31
• 9 Canon 3 05:27
• 10 Contrapunctus VIII 05:58
• 11 Contrapunctus IX 03:00
• 12 Canon 4 02:16
• 13 Contrapunctus X 05:19
• 14 Contrapunctus XI 07:32
• 15 Canon 1 04:01
• 16 Contrapunctus Inversus 12a 02:33
• 17 Contrapunctus Inversus 12b 02:39
• 18 Fuga a 2 Clav 14a 02:22
• 19 Fuga a 2 Clav 14b 02:40
• Total Runtime 01:16:37

Info for Johann Sebastian Bach: Die Kunst der Fuga - The Art of Fugue

Did you perhaps also think that the Art of Fugue was a mathematical-abstract work, possibly something cumbersome, an unfinished “cycle of death”? Banish that from your mind...

With his great sense for sound, harpsichord grandmaster Bob van Asperen makes it clear that this work is to be approached with just as much harpsichordistic joy of playing as Bach’s other keyboard works. For him there is no doubt that it is a cycle completed by Bach, to be played on no instrument other than the harpsichord. The very seldom heard harpsichord by Christian Zell from 1741, recorded in SACD sound in the large St. George’s Church in East Frisian Weener, serves Bob van Asperen as the ideal partner for transparent, sensitive timbre. For the duets, van Asperen is joined by his former pupil Bernhard Klapproth, who is today likewise a sought-after keyboard virtuoso..

The booklet text, which even for AEOLUS is exceptionally comprehensive, deals with many questions and takes clear positions on this legendary and at the same time still much discussed work.

Bob van Asperen, harpsichord
Bernhard Klapprott, harpsichord

Bob van Asperen
is one of the most famous early music specialists for harpsichord, clavichord, and organ, and is also known as a conductor and musicologist.

Bob van Asperen was born in Amsterdam in 1947. His musical education began with lessons from his mother, and he later studied with Gustav Leonhardt and Albert de Klerk. A regular guest at important festivals throughout the world, his recitals include virtually the whole repertoire of keyboard literature from the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries. Bob van Asperen teaches a master class for harpsichord at the Amsterdam Conservatory.

Since 1999, Bob van Asperen and AEOLUS have developed an intensive collaboration, the results of which include their critically acclaimed recordings of the works of J.J. Froberger and J.S. Bach.

Bernhard Klapprott
studied harpsichord with Hugo Ruf and Bob van Asperen, organ with Michael Schneider and Ewald Kooiman. In 1991, he was awarded 1st Prize at the 10th International Organ Competition at the Festival van Vlaanderen in Bruges for his performance of works of Bach and Mozart.

He concertises internationally as a keyboard soloist, continuo player and conductor and has made compact disc and radio recordings including the complete keyboard music of Thomas Tomkins (4 CDs, MDG, “Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik”) and organ music of Johann Sebastian Bach (2 CDs as part of the complete recordings on organs built by Andreas and Johann Andreas Silbermann, AEOLUS). In 1999, together with Christoph Dittmar, he founded the ensemble, Cantus Thuringia & Capella, which presented numerous concerts and recordings emphasising Central German music from the 16th to 18th centuries as well as performed staged works combined with historical acting. In this context, he initiated the project, “Music Legacy Thuringia”, which has been dedicated to the rediscovery and publication of mainly unknown Thuringian vocal and instrumental music (CD series with cpo and editions).

He has taught at the University of Dortmund, the Colleges of Music in Detmold, Herford and Bremen as well as in masterclasses. Since 1994, Bernhard Klapprott has been Professor of Harpsichord/Early Keyboard Instruments as well as Organ for music from the 16th to 18th centuries in the Department of Early Music at The Liszt School of Music Weimar.

Booklet for Johann Sebastian Bach: Die Kunst der Fuga - The Art of Fugue