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Mahan Esfahani and the Academy of Ancient Music play The Art of Fugue

Harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani joins the Academy of Ancient Music to perform Bach's Art of Fugue in an instrumental arrangement by Esfahani himself.

Harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani joins the Academy of Ancient Music to perform Bach's Art of Fugue in a new instrumental arrangement by Esfahani himself. In doing so he revives the informal spirit of Bach's Leipzig coffee house concerts, in which the composer would direct his own band of musicians.

Based on a single melody and consisting of 14 Fugues and 4 Canons, Bach explores the possibilities of what can be written by weaving the line of the melody against and around itself. Bach himself didn't stipulate the instrument (or instruments) for which he envisaged the work - the original manuscript is written in four voices on four separate lines and though Esfahani feels sure the work was undoubtedly written for a keyboard instrument, he says "it doesn't mean we can't explore another side of the music".

J S Bach: The Art of Fugue (arr. Mahan Esfahani)

Academy of Ancient Music
Mahan Esfahani (harpsichord/director)

This concert is a repeat of a Proms Saturday Matinee from July 2012.

2 hours, 30 minutes

Last on

Thu 21 Dec 2017 19:30
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3

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Prom 25: Sir John Eliot Gardiner and the Monteverdi Choir

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Prom 73: Sir Andras Schiff performs Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier

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Music Played

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    The Art of Fugue BWV.1080

    Performer: Mahan Esfahani. Ensemble: Academy of Ancient Music.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Der Geist hilft unsrer Schwachheit auf, BWV 226

    Choir: Monteverdi Choir. Orchestra: English Baroque Soloists. Conductor: Sir John Eliot Gardiner.
    • Bach Motets.
    • SOLI DEO GLORIA.
    • 3.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Canonic Variations on 'Vom Himmel hoch', BWV 769 arr Stravinsky

    Music Arranger: Igor Stravinsky. Singer: Irène Friedli. Singer: Frieder Lang. Singer: Michel Brodard. Choir: Chœur Pro Arte de Lausanne. Choir: Swiss Romande Chamber Choir. Orchestra: Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. Conductor: Neeme Järvi.
    • The Essential Stravinsky.
    • Chandos.
    • 32-37.

  • Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

    Symphony No 2 in C minor, Op 17, 'Little Russian'

    Orchestra: Dresdner Philharmonie. Conductor: Kurt Masur.
    • BERLIN CLASSICS.

Broadcast

  • Thu 21 Dec 2017 19:30
    Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3