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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 p
