IDAGIO | Webern: Complete Published String Quartets - Bach: The Art of Fugue 5425004841292

Featuring

Rodolfo Richter
Rebecca Huber
David Wish
Jennifer Morsches
Paolo Zuccheri
James Johnstone

Richter Ensemble
Johann Sebastian Bach
Anton Webern

Did you know?

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Compositional Technique

The final fugue of Bach's The Art of Fugue, Contrapunctus XIV, includes the notes of Bach's name (B, A, C, H) as one of its three subjects.

Composition History

Bach's The Art of Fugue was composed and assembled in two separate periods, from the mid-1740s to around 1748, and then between 1748 and 1750.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Anton Webern, a 20th-century Austrian composer, revered Bach, stating that "You find everything in Bach: the development of cyclic forms, the conquest of the realm of tonality - the attempt at a summation of the highest order."

Album & Artwork

This recording juxtaposes Johann Sebastian Bach's The Art of Fugue with the complete string-quartet works of Anton Webern published in his lifetime.

Composer Biography

Anton Webern, a keen cellist, declared in 1910 that "Quartet playing is the most glorious music-making there is," reflecting his passion for string quartets.

Interpretation

The Art of Fugue was almost certainly conceived for personal contemplation and was not intended for concert performance, allowing musicians freedom in choosing movements and their order.

Composition History

Anton Webern's Five Movements for String Quartet, Op. 5, written in a freely atonal style, was dedicated to the memory of his mother and is an outpouring of grief.