Johann Sebastian Bach's Die Kunst der Fuge, BWV 1080 for organ and keyboard with commentary

Presents a piece of music that has been hailed as "the loftiest music ever written," yet that failed to find a place in the public concert repertoire for more than 150 years after its publication. Extensive notes offer information and creative insights on all aspects of the work, discuss problems associated with its performance, and reflect the vast scholarly literature that has grown up around it. The editor argues in favor of the organ as the ideal performance instrument for these fugues. He presents the fugue on two staves, and uses the pedal in baroque fashion to bring out inner lines. He provides two versions for the four-voice mirror fugue, for one and two performers. Includes a 78-bar completion of the unfinished Fuga a tre soggeto , published here for the first time in two-stave keyboard notation. Editor information is not given. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)