Customer Rating: 
Summary: The Master of Music
Comment: Bach is one of my favorites musicians. This CD es the BEST, really. Was a sorpresive purchase, the sound, the ambient on the record is amazing. No much CD has de honor to take 5 stars, this really win.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Stunningly Sublime
Comment: It's hard to express in words the emotional connection this recording makes. The extraordinary playing by the Emerson on this CD makes these works by Bach come alive in a way like I've never heard before. This is a moving and poetic recording, and you'll swear you can hear oboes and trumpets coming from only four string instruments. What can I say, I was completely blown away by this truly sublime and perfect recording. Emerson Quartet is just amazing.
Customer Rating:
Summary: the Art of Perfection
Comment: Bach's ultimate composition has so often been described as cerebral that it's inclined to put a casual listener off. Much as I admire Charles Rosen's piano recording, for example, I find it's not uncommon for the mind to wander off somewhere around the halfway mark. Perhaps it's the strings' ability to project a lyrical line, but I find the Emerson Quartet gripping from beginning to premature end, and after living with this CD for a while, the work makes more sense to me. The Art of Fugue is a monumental piece of art: like a great sculpture, it simply exists, and as a listener you may bring to it as much or as little as you like without affecting its integrity. Unlike, say, a Mahler symphony, it does not demand complete emotional commitment (except from the performers, which it definitely gets here)- and yet, when the music just stops mid-stream at the point where Bach supposedly died, the shock is greater than any number of Mahlerian hammer blows.
Beautifully recorded, sensitively played and, to descend to earth for a moment, I notice it's also discounted. Perfect.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Sublime Stuff from the Emerson String Quartet
Comment: Here we have yet another wonderful recording from the EmersonString Quartet. This time they bring their unique performing
feel to the music of J.S. Bach in one of his final expressions
of music "The Art of Fugue". Most performances of this work have
what can only be described as a totally intellectual feel to
them, this recording is quite different in the fact that the
Emersons bring a feeling of humanity to the work. The final piece
performed as a close to the work is the Chorale "Before Thy
throne do I come now." BWV 668a is one of Bach's final thoughts
It is a fitting close to this work, which is a fitting close to
Bach's musical life. The recording done by Deutsche Grammaphon
is warm, intimate, yet with just enough feel of the room to keep
it from sounding "boxy" Hearing this work in a chamber setting
helps the listener follow the various paths and trails that Bach
put together to show us his little garden or park where we can
imagine following him around as he shows us the way. Bach's music
can be quite an adventure of exploration, The Art of Fugue is his
map to perhaps what has been called "The Undiscovered Country".
I suggest getting this CD and making the journey with him as
often as possible. Is this recording the last word on the
subject? No, but it is one of the finest ones to come along in a
long time. Highly recommended.
Customer Rating:
Summary: IN A WORD: "SMOOTH"
Comment: If one word could sum up this performance it would be "smooth." I have come late to the recordings of the Emerson String Quartet. This has to be among this very worthwhile group's best.The Art of the Fugue is, if not my favorite piece by Bach, then certainly high on the short-list. This is music fully realized--with an almost mystic greatness. Les Violins du Roy and the Delme Quartet (in Robert Simpson's arrangement) have both done great chamber versions of the work.
This recording by the Emerson Quartet is well at ease in such lofty company.
This recording lets the music speak for itself. It does so brilliantly. The crystal clear sound quality works hand in hand with the performance.
Everything here is evenhanded and well judged. This is pulled off without any loss of the music's passion, fire, or insight. I cannot recommend this version of Bach's last great work highly enough.
If you are considering getting a copy, do not hesitate.
