Art of the Fugue, BMV 1080

Compared to his controversial Goldberg Variations, replete with register displacements and joy riding octave shifts, Vladimir Feltsman's Art of Fugue is the very model of sobriety. There is much to admire here. The unwieldy, difficult-to-voice mirror fugues, for instance, have rarely sounded so transparent and crisp. The pianist's fleet dispatch of No. 4 boasts remarkable lightness and control. Slower movements, on the other hand, crumble under the weight of Feltsman's earnest intentions. He fusses with agogics, picks and jabs at the music, yet never gets the mountain to move. Midway through the extraordinary canon in augmentation and contrary motion, I was fidgeting as much as the pianist! However, the giant final fugue, left unfinished at the composer's death, quietly unfolds without incident, as if it were playing itself. --Dan Davis