Recordings of Bach's "Art of Fugue" (Die Kunst der Fuge)

- collection of Bradley Lehman as of August 2006

More discographic information about most of these can be found at the Bach Cantatas Website.

Rec Date Performers Instruments Format Notes
1953 Leonhardt harpsichord LP Neupert
1954 Dichler & Dichler 2 pianos LP, CD
1955 Marlowe harpsichord LP augmentation canon only; date approximate
1959 Baron: Fine Arts/NY Woodwind winds and strings LP dates uncertain
1959 Gould piano VHS Cp 1 only: film "Off the Record"
1962 Gould organ LP & CD 1-9 only; other piano excerpts added on Sony CD
1963 Swingle Singers vocal ens LP Cp 9 only; date approximate
1965 Scherchen, Toronto orch CD Tachezi on harpsichord
1965 Scherchen, Vienna orch LP Gilbert on harpsichord
1965 W von Karajan & friends 3 organs Cass date approximate; only a dub from someone's LP
1966 Munchinger/Stuttgart orch LP
1967 Ahlgrimm pedal harpsichord CD
1967 Gould piano CD Music & Arts: radio: Cp 9, 11, half of 18
1967 Munclinger/Ars Rediviva orch LP & CD
1967 Rosen piano LP & CD
1969 Leonhardt harpsichord LP & CD Program notes reproduce Leonhardt's book about KdF as a keyboard piece
1969 Rogg organ LP
1974 Alain organ LP Erato, reissued on MHS
1974 Marriner orch CD
1974 Payne overdubbed harpsichord LP "Spaced-Out Bach", only Cp 9 and half of Cp 18
1975 Opera String Trio string trio LP arr by Mozart: Cp 8 only
1977 Rubsam organ CD Philips
1977 Tachezi organ CD
1978 Los Angeles Sax Qt saxophones CD guidance of Sol Babitz; date uncertain
1978 Malloch/Foss orch LP & CD wild orchestration by Malloch; very fast tempos
1981 Bagger harpsichord CD
1981 Gould piano VHS Cp 14 only
1983 Pommer orch LP & CD part recorded in 1984
1984 Kocsis piano LP
1984 Musica Antiqua Koeln string qt & harpsichords CD Hill & Staier on harpsichords
1985 Borciani string qt CD
1985 Moroney harpsichord CD
1986 Savall winds and strings CD 4 viols, 4 Renaissance winds
1987 Canadian Brass brass qnt CD dedicated to Glenn Gould
1987 Hill harpsichord CD early version
1987 Juilliard Qt string qt CD specially constructed viola for tenor line
1987 Zacher organ CD 10 interpretations of Cp 1 only
1989 Amherst Sax Qt saxophones CD Cp 1, 3, 5, 9 only
1989 Gilbert harpsichord CD early version
1990 Berlin Sax Qt saxophones CD
1990 Koroliov piano CD
1991 Sokolov piano CD
1992 Rubsam organ CD Naxos
1993 Koopman & Mathot 2 harpsichords CD
1993 Malgoire orch CD
1994 Alexander & Daykin 2 pianos CD booklet has excellent survey of arrangements
1995 Lagace organ CD
1995 MacGregor piano CD disc 2 includes music by Nancarrow
1996 Feltsman piano CD
1997 Phantasm viol qt CD
1998 Alessandrini chamber group CD harpsichord, winds, strings
1998 Hill harpsichord CD with appendix to cover both versions
1998 Koito organ CD Dom Bedos organ in modified meantone
1999 Delme Qt string qt CD arr by Robert Simpson into G minor
1999 Isoir organ CD
1999 van Delft harpsichord CD
2000 Calefax reed qnt CD oboes, saxes, clarinets, basset horn, bassoon
2001 Baudet/Swierstra/Zipperling string trio CD arr by Mozart: Cp 8 only
2003 Brookshire harpsichord CD not released yet
2005 Lehman harpsichord CD Cp 3 only, illustrating its enharmonic shifts; using Bach's own temperament
2005 Riemer fortepiano CD

Also, cassettes as study tapes from my own concert performances.

See also: Movement-ordering logic in the autograph and print versions.

Related composition: Ferruccio Busoni's "Fantasia Contrappuntistica", an elaboration of Contrapunctus 14. A score of the solo piano version is available from Dover Publications. The recordings I have (so far) are by: Egon Petri, Peter Serkin/Richard Goode, Ursula Oppens/Paul Jacobs, John Ogdon, Andras Schiff/Peter Serkin, Wolf Harden, Joseph Banowetz/Ronald Stevenson, Christopher O'Riley, Velislava Georgieva/Krassimir Taskov, Allan Schiller/John Humphreys. I have also heard Viktoria Postnikova's recording but didn't keep it....