Chasing Notes

The term fugue is derived from the Latin word fuga, which is related to fugere – ‘to flee’– and fugare –‘to chase’. If one really appreciates a little architecture (well, maybe a lot...) behind their music, there is nothing like a fugue: the thinking man's song in which the tune chases itself. I think all but the most clueless will sense the the power of the fugue when they listen (for example) to Handel's Messiah. Indeed, fugal imitation continues to be employed in the most unlikely places.

Although we first turn to Bach for fugues – he was undoubtedly the greatest master of this form for all time –  we shouldn't overlook other sources.

Which leads me to a recording I had to get as soon as I saw it: Quartetti Fugati, fugal chamber works of the classical period performed by the string quartet Quartuor Rincontro. This is on the zig-zag territoires label ... a double good omen. The recording is dominated by fugues from well knowns like Haydn and Mozart, and lesser known, like Albrechtsberger and Werner. The fugue was by no means dead, rather it was encouraged by the emperor Joseph. Not every track is a fugue; two complete Haydn quartets with fugal movements begin and end the recording. One can't help but notice Mozart's two fugues after Bach's BWV 871 and BWV 876, proclaiming Mozart's own love for Bach and the fuge, and demonstrating how perfect the string quartet medium is for such counterpoint.

This recording has a wonderful sound and tight, passionate performance. This has been a recoding I return to with frequency.

A much more modern master of the fugue was Dimitri Shostakovich. I think Shostakovich has been deprived of his rightful credit of supreme music genius partly because of politics he was captive to, partly because his music sometimes turns to a nervous carnival mood that is coarse and strident. However, his op. 87 proves his real genius. One of my most treasured and overplayed recordings for nearly 20 years has been Keith Jarrett's recording of Shostakovich's op. 87. It was time to try out a different perspective, which led me to the recent recording by Alexander Melnikov.

Melnikov has the immediate advantage of the latest recording technology: a really large, live, and natural sound. Shostakovich really uses the piano like an orchestra. Milnikov has a big, lush Russian sound that is more nuanced and less bombastic than Jarrett's. The two performances are different, which I wanted. I'm not abandoning my Jarrett: he has an intensity that may have resulted from what was a newness of the music to him at the time of the recording. However, if you don't have a recording, get Melnikov's, which includes a fascinating video interview (in multiple languages) by Andreas Staier.

As an aside, one quirk of this album is that it is spread across 3 CDs, with the final CD containing only two tracks for the final prelude and fugue. The engineers could have squeezed everything onto 2 CDs, but it looks like that would have required ending CD 1 with a prelude, then starting CD 2 with the accompanying fugue. This is a nit, but I do tend to listen to the entire cycle start-to-finish, usually on car trips or stargazing in the desert: both environments that especially lend themselves to chasing notes.