Bach: Die Kunst der Fuge (The Art of Fugue), BWV 1080 Cédric Pescia

• Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750): Die Kunst der Fuge (The Art of Fugue), BWV 1080
• 1Contrapunctus 104:31
• 2Contrapunctus 202:56
• 3Contrapunctus 304:52
• 4Contrapunctus 403:01
• 5Canon alla Ottava02:05
• 6Contrapunctus 505:48
• 7Contrapunctus 6 a 4 in Stylo Francese05:44
• 8Contrapunctus 7 a 4 per Augmentationem et Diminutionem03:38
• 9Die Kunst der Fuge, BWV 1080 - Canon alla Decima in Contrapunto alla Terza07:28
• 10Contrapunctus 8 a 306:18
• 11Contrapunctus 9 a 4 alla Duodecima02:33
• 12Contrapunctus 10 a 406:48
• 13Contrapunctus 11 a 406:32
• 14Canon alla Duodecima in Contrapunto alla Quinta02:19
• 15Die Kunst der Fuge, BWV 1080 - Contrapunctus Inversus 12a a 404:16
• 16Contrapunctus Inversus 12b a 404:04
• 17Contrapunctus Inversus 13a a 302:16
• 18Contrapunctus Inversus 13b a 302:29
• 19Canon per Augmentationem in Contrario Motu10:02
• 20Fuga a 3 Soggetti11:33
• Total Runtime01:39:13

Info for Bach: Die Kunst der Fuge (The Art of Fugue), BWV 1080

Harpsichordist Gustav Leonhardt said that Bach had written his Art of Fugue for himself, without thought of performing it on any instrument in particular. In the presence of a speculative work, every musician is free to chisel the perfect lines of polyphony as he or she chooses. Up to the final canon, which continues to pose the question of its incompletion. It is the Franco-Swiss pianist Cédric Pescia, with his subtle, understated playing, who will make this sublime score sing. But he will do so on an untempered piano, which is hardly banal! After a first æon disc devoted to Cage, which created a tremendous stir, Cédric Pescia deploys a low-key art in Bach, a sense of rhythm combined with a rubato of extreme subtlety and an inventiveness in the phrasings and ornaments, both flowing and sharp, that have no equivalent in the discography. Such relief, such life!

Cédric Pescia, piano

Cédric Pescia
pianist of dual French and Swiss nationality, was born in Lausanne. He studied with Christian Favre at the Conservatoire de Musique in Lausanne, later with Dominique Merlet at the Conservatoire de Musique in Geneva where he earned a Premier Prix de Virtuosité with honors and completed his studies with Klaus Hellwig at the Universität der Künste in Berlin.

In addition he has studied with Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Daniel Barenboim, Henri Barda, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Ivan Klansky, Christian Zacharias, Ilan Gronich and with the Alban Berg Quartet. From 2003 until 2006 he was invited to attend the famous International Piano Academy, Lake Como (Italy) where he worked with Dimitri Bashkirov, Leon Fleisher, William Grant Naboré, Menahem Pressler, Andreas Staier and Fou Ts´ong.

Cédric Pescia was the brilliant First Prize Winner (Gold Medalist) at the 2002 Gina Bachauer International Artists Piano Competition in Salt Lake City (USA).

Concert tours have taken him throughout Europe, China, South America, North Africa and in the USA. He has performed at the Berlin Philharmonie, the Berlin Konzerthaus, the Hamburg Laieszhalle, the Mozarteum Salzburg, Carnegie Hall New York, Shanghai Oriental Arts Center, Wigmore Hall London, Tonhalle Zürich, Vienna Konzerthaus and has appeared in leading music festivals such as: Prague Spring Festival, Lucerne Festival, Menuhin Festival-Gstaad, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad, Davos Festival, Festival de Radio France et Montpellier, Les Muséiques Basel and Schubertiade Hohenems.

His orchestral appearances have been with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi, the Utah Symphony, the Festival Strings of Luzern, the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, the Ensemble Oriol Berlin, the Klassische Philharmonie Bonn, the Camerata Bern, the Basler Kammerorchester, the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern, the Göttinger Symphonie Orchester and the Orchestre National de Lille.

In addition to his activities as a soloist, his love for chamber music regularly leads to performances with other eminent musicians. For many years Cédric Pescia has been working in close collaboration with violinist Nurit Stark.

He is founding member and artistic director of the Lausanne chamber music series Ensemble enScène.

In 2005 and 2007 he served as a jury member in the Clara Haskil Competition in Vevey.

He is giving master classes in the USA and in Europe, a.o. at the prestigious Accademia Pianistica Internazionale \"Incontri col Maestro\" in Imola, Italy.

In 2012 he was appointed professor for piano at the Haute Ecole de Musique de Genève.

In 2007, Cédric Pescia was honoured with the Prix Musique de la Fondation Vaudoise pour la culture. He was a also a prizewinner at the Bourse de la Fondation Leenaards in Lausanne. The duo Nurit Stark (violin) and Cédric Pescia is supported by the Forberg-Schneider Foundation.

For Claves Records, he has recorded Bach\'s Goldberg Variations, Schumann\'s complete works for piano solo (vol. 2 + vol. 5) and a CD of French music featuring Couperin, Messiaen and Debussy, F. Busoni\'s and G. Enescu\'s Violin and Piano Sonatas with Nurit Stark, as well as Beethoven\'s Piano sonatas op. 109, 110 and 111, six CDs which were unanimously acclaimed by the critics. His new recording John Cage : Sonatas and Interludes for prepared piano is released by Aeon.

Booklet for Bach: Die Kunst der Fuge (The Art of Fugue), BWV 1080