J.S. Bach: Die Kunst der Fuge

I don't usually write reviews; I don't often feel like I have anything special to say that others haven't said. But I'm so pleased with this recording I wanted to share my thoughts. I'm a seventy-year old man, a music lover but not a musician; I lack the talent. But I have loved Bach since my late teens. In my twenties, I bought a monaural recording of Gustav Leonhardt's version of this work and since then, the Emerson Quartet's version and Helmet Walcha's version for Organ.I have felt recently that I needed a good harpsichord recording of this work, to further appreciate it; I was aware, listening to Leonhardt's 1950s recording, that I was missing something. And I was. Martha Cook's playing, so far as a non-musician can tell, has an unhurried, articulate beauty to it that was just what I was looking for to take me that extra step. The recording itself is beautifully done, not too loud or sharp, as harpsichord recordings sometimes are.I have trouble accounting for my resistance to a piano version of this work. I just don't seem to like the ones I've sampled. Andrew Rangell and Diana Boyles both have sensitive recordings out but I wonder how much is them and how much is Bach. Of course, Glenn Gould did a recording on piano and I may get that one, if I get any piano version. Still, I prefer the harpsichord for this work and this recording is just what I needed. I enjoy it very much and I hope others will give it a try.

Inutile de présenter l'Art de la Fugue de J.S Bach, un chef d'oeuvre de la musique universelle. Très bonne interprétation de Martha Cook