7 Fugues YOU should Listen to this Week

Hello everyone! In last week's weekly7, @lostsound proposed that I do 7 fugues this week. I thought that was an excellent idea. So, this week's weekly7 is 7 Fugues YOU should Listen to this Week. Now, for those of you who don't know what a fugue is, I am including this chart from composerfocus.com

Anyway, let's get into the list:

7. Fugue in g minor (BWV 578) - Johann Sebastian Bach

This fugue is one of my favorites. It is short, but also well designed. It is one of Bach's most well known works, and was nicknamed the "Little Fugue" in order to avoid confusion with the later Great Fantasia and Fugue in G minor, BWV 542. I often listen to this fugue when I listen to music. It really demonstrate's Bach's grasp of the form. Here is Bach's "Little" Fugue in g minor performed by Ton Koopman (Organ):

6. Große Fuge - Ludwig van Beethoven

This fugue was incredibly innovative for Beethoven's time. So innovative, in fact, that period critics condemned it. One stated that it was "like Chinese" and "a confusion of Babel." Later, 20th century composers and musicians would come to admire the work. For instance, Igor Stravinsky, who stated "[it is] an absolutely contemporary piece of music that will be contemporary forever." I am not super fond of this work, but it does demonstrate that Beethoven had skill in writing in this form. This was a skill that can also be seen in the finale of his 9th symphony (which contains a fugue [in the second movement]). Here is Beethoven's Große Fuge performed by the Talich Quartet (1977):

5. Fugue in c minor for two pianos (K. 426) - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

It is no secret that Mozart knew his stuff when it comes to counterpoint and fugues. This is clearly demonstrated by the finale of the Jupiter Symphony (Here's a video about that). But this piece is also a great example. Mozart and his contemporaries began to utilize counterpoint much more after being exposed to the work of Bach. This work is one of many examples of "18th Century Counterpoint." Here is Mozart's c minor Fugue for two pianos (performers unlisted):

4. Fugue in a minor - Frédéric Chopin

I can't find anything on this fugue, but I am sure that Chopin knew what he was doing. It sounds interesting, because it sounds quite similar to something Bach would write, but you can still tell that Chopin wrote it. I think there are few other composers with as unique a style as Chopin. Anyway, here is Chopin's fugue in a minor performed by Vladimir Ashkenazy:

3. Fugue in g minor - George Frideric Handel

Handel is someone who I don't often listen to, so I decided to search to see if he has a fugue. I will say that this fugue sounds much more advanced in comparison to others on this list. It sounds on par with Bach. This is almost certainly because the fugue was to the baroque composer as the sonata (or symphony) was to the classical. However, this fugues sounds different than a Bach fugue. It is clearly a different sonata. Here is Handel's g minor fugue (The performer is not listed):

2. Sonata Movement 4 (Fugue, Op. 26) - Samuel Barber

Another composer who I rarely include in these lists is Samuel Barber. Barber actually grew up in the same town as me, and actually wrote my school's alma mater (see here for my recent analysis of that work). Whenever I have listened to Samuel Barber's piano sonata, I have cringed a little. This work has always been a little bit too avant garde for my taste. However, there is no doubt in my mind that Barber had a unique and innovative writing style. Here is the fugue from the fourth movement of his piano sonata performed by Kenny Broberg (piano):

1. Toccata and Fugue in d minor (BWV 565) - Johann Sebastian Bach

This is almost certainly one Bach's most famous works. Especially due to the Brigantine Castle ad which used it. Believe it or not, as the title would suggest, this work contains a fugue (which [I believe] begins around 2:30). This work is quite magnificent and really demonstrates the true power that a good composer with an organ can achieve. Anyway, here is Bach's Toccata and Fugue in d minor performed by Hans-André Stamm (Organ):

Sources

All Previous Weekly7s

Schedule (hopefully)

Friday - Tuesday: "The Wealth of Nations" review
Wednesday: Break/Free write day
Thursday: Weekly7

Playlists

Closing

Thank you for reading this! This list is long overdue! I am quite glad that @lostsound suggested it. If you have any suggestions for future lists, please don't hesitate to comment them down below. As always, feedback is greatly appreciated! Hopefully, I will see you in the next post! Have a nice night!

Also remember to check for: My weekly 7 post, As well as my composer birthday posts (Note) In order to encourage meaningful feedback on the platform, I will check comment trails of users who leave superficial comments (ie "Awesome post," or "Upvoted.") and will mute any users who exhibit a pattern of leaving "spammy" comments.

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lostsound (40) · 6 years ago

Thanks for taking accept my suggestion. I really liked the post :3

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askeb (51) · 6 years ago

As always a great compilation! You should consider doing a Spotify playlist, would be great!

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c-squared (60) · 6 years ago

This post was shared in the Curation Collective Discord community for curators, and upvoted and resteemed by the @c-squared community account after manual review.