The word originally meant “to chase” — and that’s pretty much what happens, as instruments or voices follow one another with the same tune, before launching into variations that often go in very unexpected directions.
I’m talking about the “fugue,” and while its heyday was the 17th and 18th centuries, with composers like Bach and Handel, it has continued in use right up to the present day — and often in surprising ways.
RECORDINGS USED
Alma Brasileira RCA Red Seal 09026-68538-2
Children’s Favorite Songs. Vol. 1 Walt Disney Records (LP) 2505
Glenn Gould Silver Jubilee Album Sony S2K60686
Bach: L’Art de la Fugue Solstice SOCD 147
Bach: Well-Tempered Clavier, Vol. II Sony/CBS Masterworks M3K 42266
Handel: Israel in Egypt Philips 446 657 2
Handel: Messiah Linn CKD 285
Hadyn: The Creation Archiv Produktion 00289 477 7361
Haydn 12 London Symphonies Deutsche Grammophon DGG 546 150-3
Mozart: Requiem Deutsche Grammophon DGG 419 610-2
Beethoven: Grosse Fugue Deutsche Grammophon DGG 415 867-2
Beethoven: String Quartets 13 &14 Deutsche Grammophon DGG B000120602
Verdi: Falstaff Chandos CHAN3079
The Complete Gershwin Vox CDX 5007
Hovhaness: Symphony No. 2 'Mysterious Mountain' Musicmasters 7021-2-C