Guest
Bach’s The Art of Fugue is shrouded in mystery. We don’t know whether Bach intended the music as material for practice or performance. The order of the 18 sections is unclear as well and we don’t know whether the piece was ever completed. Shunske Sato made his own instrumentation for the Netherlands Bach Society. “I wanted to bring out the many colours of the work and of my ensemble. Every fugue has its own character. On the basis of the rhythm, time and chromatic lines, etc., you can determine which instrument is most suitable. I’ve studied each part very carefully, in order to decide which instruments are best to use. I wanted the whole Netherlands Bach Society to be heard, so the singers are taking part as well. They sing without words, to vowel sounds. When you introduce singers to the Art of Fugue, you can hardly ignore the example of the Swingle Singers. The sung Contrapunctus 9 is intended as a tribute to their great recording.“ For a more detailed explanation of this work and this particular performance go to: Recorded for the project All of Bach on 30 September and 1 October 2021 at the Grote Kerk, Veere. If you want to help us complete All of Bach, please subscribe to our channel and consider donating For the interview with musicians on The Art of Fugue go to For more information on BWV 1080 and this production go to All of Bach is a project of the Netherlands Bach Society, offering high-quality film recordings of the works by Johann Sebastian Bach, performed by the Netherlands Bach Society and its guest musicians. Visit our free online treasury for more videos and background material on For concert dates and tickets go to Netherlands Bach Society Shunske Sato, violin and direction 0:00 Contrapunctus 1 3:35 Contrapunctus 2 7:18 Contrapunctus 3 10:16 Contrapunctus 4 15:02 Chorale 15:46 Contrapunctus 5 19:23 Contrapunctus 6 23:27 Contrapunctus 7 27:13 Chorale 27:52 Contrapunctus 8 33:56 Contrapunctus 9 36:55 Contrapunctus 10 41:42 Contrapunctus 11 48:05 Chorale 48:47 Contrapunctus inversus a 4 (forma inversa) 50:42 Contrapunctus inversus a 4 (forma recta) 52:37 Contrapunctus inversus a 3 (forma recta) 55:00 Contrapunctus inversus a 3 (forma inversa) 57:23 Chorale 58:01 Canon alla Ottava 1:00:48 Canon alla Decima in Contrapunto alla Terza 1:05:40 Canon alla duodecima in contrapunto alla Quinta 1:08:17 Canon per Augmentationem in contrario motu 1:16:15 Chorale 1:17:37 Fuga a 3 soggetti (reconstruction Kees van Houten/Leo van Doeselaar)
