The Art of Fugue'
BBC Orchestra
Conducted by Walter Goehr
John Wills (organ and harpsichord)
Frederick Stone (harpsichord)
Part 1
The fourteen fugues or ' Counter-points ' of which Bach's last work consists are all built on a single theme: the last, left incomplete at his death, incorporating a subject based on the name BACH in German musical nomenclature. This was completed by Professor Tovey, who also provided an analysis demonstrating the many profound beauties of the vast work. Since Bach originally wrote the work without any indication of the instrumentation, an edited version is necessary for performance, the one used today being an adaptation, specially prepared for this broadcast by Walter Goehr, of his own and Matyas Seiber's arrangement and of the earlier arrangement for symphonic orchestra by Wolfgang Graeser, followed by Tovey's completion of the final fugue.