013 CD / Johann Sebastian Bach: The Art of Fugue

7 reviews for 013 CD / Johann Sebastian Bach: The Art of Fugue

1. Stuttgarter Zeitung – 29. June 2000

   The pianist Evgeni Koroliov is a kindly looking man with large glasses … Nothing about him seems spectacular. But his playing is, precisely because Koroliov does not aim to be spectacular. He is simply precise (but what does simply mean?) …

2. Gramophone – 15. January 2000

   .. Let′s face it, the Art of Fugue is often made to sound dull and didactic: this performance, bursting with vitality is absolute riveting." Lionel Salter
   Lionel Salter

3. La Folia – Online Music Review – 1. January 1998

   The star of the TACET roster is likely émigré Russian pianist Evgeni Koroliov. His 1990 studio performance of Bach’s fugal testament ranks among the glories of the catalog (it’s György Ligeti’s Desert Island Disc). The twist of focus Bach on the piano usually requires isn’t a factor. Indeed, the instrument can even be favored in such abstract music, as the keyboard sound most familiar to us — what Charles Rosen suggested. (His playing [on Sony SB2K 63231] of course makes a stronger case yet.) Describing why Koroliov astounds isn’t easy. His virtuoso technique seems to vanish inside the music — no curious articulations, dynamics or tempos. The spare pedaling never imitates a harpsichord. Similarly, the recording projects a beautifully focused piano — the whole, not a mass of disembodied details. For The Art of Fugue fanciers: Koroliov inserts the canons along the entire span, rather than doing them as a group; and he plays the great unfinished fugue without supplying his own resolution. In an appendix, he and Ljupka Hadzigeorgieva (his duo partner) deliver two fugues for two keyboards (outtakes of Contrapunctus 13). Anyone who cares about this monumental summa — not as a theoretical exercise, but as a living work — has to have this set

4. Stuttgarter Nachrichten – 1. January 1997

   A fixed star shines by itself.
   Unaffected by the day's excitements, Evgeni Koroliov follows his own path. He is not a star in the pianist firmament as far as the media are concerned, but to those who have heard him and appreciate his recordings, he appears in his quiet greatness as a fixed star — a very distant, self-luminous celestial body that seems firmly anchored above, yet in reality slowly changes its position.
   Koroliov is no showman and doesn’t play in the league of self-promoters — someone like him is hard to market. As someone who makes little fuss about himself or his abilities, he was fortunate to encounter the right producer and sound engineer. None of the industry’s big moguls wanted to bring him on board — it was a stroke of luck that he met Andreas Spreer, founder of the Stuttgart-based Tacet label and a meticulous craftsman at the microphone. Spreer is committed to the aesthetics of unadulterated sound. Nothing is glossed over or manipulated in any way. His recordings remain excellent and incomparable, especially the Prokofiev interpretations (“Visions fugitives” Op. 22, “Sarcasms” Op. 17, and Sonata No. 5 Op. 38, Tacet 32), as well as the Schubert CD featuring the great B-flat major sonata and the Moments Musicaux (D 780, Tacet 46), shaped entirely from the music’s closeness to death. Also remarkable is his rendition of Tchaikovsky’s The Seasons (Tacet 25), a cycle not easily accessible to everyone and rarely recorded.
   And Bach, of course. Bach is the central sun in the life of pianist and piano professor Evgeni Koroliov (53), who lives in Hamburg. The Art of Fugue (Tacet 13) — one of the most intriguingly enigmatic works in the history of music in the best sense. Now, after years of hesitation and doubt, he has completed the recording of all 48 Preludes and Fugues of The Well-Tempered Clavier with the release of the second volume (Tacet 93 and 104). Live recordings from concerts of the International Bach Academy Stuttgart, released on Haussier Classics, include the Goldberg Variations as well as two additional Bach CDs.
   His Bach playing strikes a balance between intellect and emotion; it leans into the melody while delivering powerful, chordal accents. A fiery spirit turns inward in reflection. Koroliov doesn’t smooth out the edges — he remains sharply alert. In doing so, he distances himself as much from the subtly romanticized interpretations of Sviatoslav Richter as from the unorthodox exegesis of Glenn Gould. (…)
   ... The Sonata is a real catch; it is as if cast in one go. Only few pianists can build up the span of excitement – and maintain it: endure, one might say. It is stretched almost to snapping point and breathless. That is what music sung and played in camera is like: turned inwards, averse to external influences, absolutely calm. And already it darkens and shadows build up; Koroliov dims the light. Moonlight, just right for sleep walkers. Constantly wide awake; suddenly there is cold light on the scene. He avoids any intrusion into barn-dance reminiscence. He understands form and feeling, and has a rare purity of tone. He leaves simple music as it is, whereas others are coquettish with it. Koroliov’s Schubert demands time from the listener.
   Jürgen Holwein

5. Classics Today – 1. January 1996

   Reference Recording – This one.
   Evgeni Koroliov′s well-deserved prominence among today′s Bach pianists began, in effect, with this 1990 recording of The Art of Fugue, newly repackaged by Tacet. I preferred Tacet′s original black cover design to the generic gray used for virtually all the label′s new releases and reissues. But that′s not important. What counts is Koroliov′s non-egoistic mastery plus his total spiritual and musical immersion into Bach′s valedictory opus. The pianist appears to have a brain in every finger as he contours the interweaving and often knotty polyphony with effortless control no matter what the tempo may be. On the back cover blurb, composer Gyorgi Ligeti claims that he would listen to this recording on a desert island until his last breath. We′ll see about that! Tacet′s clarion engineering does full justice to Koroliov′s warm, firmly focused sonority. A recording you′ll savor for years to come.
   Jed Distler

6. György Ligeti – 1. January 1992

   ... but if I am allowed only one musical work on my desert island, then I should choose Koroliov′s Bach, because forsaken, starving and dying of thirst, I would listen to it right up to my last breath.
   György Ligeti

7. Fanfare-Magazin – 1. January 1991

   In October 1992, I attended a conference in Groningen, The Netherlands; it was ostensibly devoted to the work of Glenn Gould, but the pianist who stole the show there (in his own modest way) was, in my view, Evgeni Koroliov. At a sparsely attended noon concert in a small venue, Koroliov came out, looking deadly earnest, all in black, sat down, played The Art of Fugue, got up and left. ...