András Schiff with Schaghajegh Nosrati
Saturday, August 23, 2025
Royal Albert Hall, London
“The Art of The Fugue was written at the end of Bach’s life, and was a compendium intended to demonstrate all the possibilities of contrapuntal writing.” Played at Royal Albert Hall from 11 o’clock by András Schiff with Schaghajegh Nosrati (piano II).
Left unfinished, and without specific instrumentation, it is unclear if Bach intended Die Kunst der Fuge to be primarily a study to aid compositional facility, rather than something to be played or listened to. This late-morning recital with András Schiff more than suggested the piano as an ideal intermediary between pages and ears, Schiff the master of what he calls a “scientific” work, and indeed the “greatest work by the greatest composer”. At once this is music – expressed as Fugues and Canons – about itself, yet also everything, intensely rigorous in manuscript if proving to be unhinderedly communicative when given with the level of insight and commitment that Schiff displayed. It was an engrossing experience, the composer’s intellect combining with Schiff’s artistry, and not forgetting, arriving with the midday hour, his pupil Schaghajegh Nosrati joining for two ‘mirror’ Fugues. After eighty minutes, when Fugue XIV simply stopped, into silence, the effect was chilling…