Bach: Die Kunst der Fuge Aapo Häkkinen

• Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750): Die Kunst der Fuge, BWV 1080:
• 1 Bach: Die Kunst der Fuge, BWV 1080: Contrapunctus I 04:07
• 2 Bach: Die Kunst der Fuge, BWV 1080: Contrapunctus III 03:49
• 3 Bach: Die Kunst der Fuge, BWV 1080: Contrapunctus II 03:05
• 4 Bach: Die Kunst der Fuge, BWV 1080: Contrapunctus IV 05:37
• 5 Bach: Die Kunst der Fuge, BWV 1080: Contrapunctus V 03:41
• 6 Bach: Die Kunst der Fuge, BWV 1080: Contrapunctus IX (alla Duodecima) 03:43
• 7 Bach: Die Kunst der Fuge, BWV 1080: Contrapunctus X (alla Decima) 06:17
• 8 Bach: Die Kunst der Fuge, BWV 1080: Contrapunctus VI (per Diminutionem in Stylo Francese) 04:11
• 9 Bach: Die Kunst der Fuge, BWV 1080: Contrapunctus VII (per Augmentationem et Diminutionem) 04:31
• 10 Bach: Die Kunst der Fuge, BWV 1080: Contrapunctus VIII 06:09
• 11 Bach: Die Kunst der Fuge, BWV 1080: Contrapunctus XI 08:42
• 12 Bach: Die Kunst der Fuge, BWV 1080: Contrapunctus inversus XII 03:54
• 13 Bach: Die Kunst der Fuge, BWV 1080: Contrapunctus inversus XIII 04:48
• 14 Bach: Die Kunst der Fuge, BWV 1080: Canon (alla Ottava) 04:35
• 15 Bach: Die Kunst der Fuge, BWV 1080: Canon (alla Decima) 05:04
• 16 Bach: Die Kunst der Fuge, BWV 1080: Canon (alla Duodecima) 04:01
• 17 Bach: Die Kunst der Fuge, BWV 1080: Canon (per Augmentationem in Contrario Motu) 04:26
• Total Runtime 01:20:40

Info for Bach: Die Kunst der Fuge

The Art of Fugue (Die Kunst der Fuge, BWV 1080) is a masterpiece created by Johann Sebastian Bach at the end of his life. Surrounded by legends, this is a brilliant summary of the abundant possibilities of polyphonic technique.

“[Bach] speaks to us in his work in such clear terms that we may quite well call these fugues poems. (…) These have warmth, quiet joy, love. And running through all the poems, dressed in different guises, is the main theme, creating order, binding the work as a whole together: it is a safe bond in all its diversity. Over all lies the proximity of death.” (Enzio Forsblom). In this new recording, Bach’s final magnum opus is played by Aapo Häkkinen on a harpsichord built in 1614 by Andreas Ruckers the Elder (1579–?1652) and which belonged to the composer John Blow (1649–1708), organist of Westminster Abbey and former teacher of Henry Purcell. A tradition exists that G.F. Handel had also played this harpsichord.

Aapo Häkkinen has appeared as a soloist and conductor in most European countries, in Turkey, Israel, Georgia, Japan, China, Korea, Vietnam, the USA, Brazil, and Mexico. He has recorded for the labels Aeolus, Alba, Avie, Cantus, Deux-Elles, Naxos, and Ondine. A frequent guest on both radio and television, he hosts his own program on Classic FM in Finland. Besides the harpsichord, Aapo Häkkinen regularly performs on the organ, on the clavichord, and on the fortepiano. He teaches at the Sibelius Academy and at international masterclasses. He has been the Artistic Director of the Helsinki Baroque Orchestra since 2003.

Aapo Häkkinen, Cembalo
Anna Gebert, Violine
Les Voix humaines

Aapo Häkkinen
(1976) began his musical education as a chorister at Helsinki Cathedral. He took up the harpsichord at the age of thirteen, studying with Elina Mustonen and Olli Porthan (organ) at the Sibelius Academy. From 1995 to 1998 he studied with Bob van Asperen at the Amsterdam Sweelinck Conservatory and from 1996 to 2000 with Pierre Hantaï in Paris. He was also fortunate to enjoy the generous guidance and encouragement of Gustav Leonhardt.

Immediately after obtaining his diploma in 1998, Aapo Häkkinen won second prize and the VRT prize at the Bruges International Harpsichord Competition. He was also awarded the Norddeutscher Rundfunk special prize Musikpreis 1997 for his interpretations of Italian music. Häkkinen has appeared as soloist in Scandinavia, Holland, Belgium, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, England, Ireland, Luxembourg, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Russia, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia, Croatia, Czechia, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Estonia, Turkey, Israel, the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam (Festival de La Roque-d'Anthéron, Konzerthaus Berlin, Dresdner Musikfestspiele, Göttinger Händel-Festspiele, Kölner Philharmonie, Rheingau Musik Festival, Bachfest der Neuen Bachgesellschaft, London Lufthansa Festival, Wigmore Hall, Utrecht Early Music Festival, Flanders Festival, Bergen Festival, Eszterháza Haydn Festival, Washington Library of Congress, St Petersburg Early Music Festival, Warsaw Philharmonia, Cracow Philharmonia, Forum Musicum Wroclaw, Madrid Auditorio Nacional, Festival de Música Antigua de Sevilla, Culturgest Lisbon, Gulbenkian Música, Centro Cultural de Belém, Musik Meran, Bolzano Festival, Israel Festival, Tokyo Suntory Hall, Musashino Cultural Foundation, Hyogo Performing Arts Center, Pyeongchang Festival, Tongyeong Concert Hall, Festival Internacional Cervantino, Kuhmo Chamber Music, Helsinki Festival, Flow Festival...)

Aapo Häkkinen is also known as a distinguished chamber musician and director (Musica Aeterna, Orchestra del Teatro Olimpico di Vicenza, Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa, Os Músicos do Tejo, Croatian Baroque Ensemble, Tampere Filharmonia, Tapiola Sinfonietta, Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Lapland, Jyväskylä Sinfonia, Espoo Baroque, Tirgu Mures Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir, Novosibirsk Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra, Tallinn Baroque Orchestra, Cork Baroque Orchestra, Eric Ericson Chamber Choir, Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, Helsinki Chamber Choir, Key Ensemble, Voces Caelestes) in collaboration with artists such as Reinhard Goebel, Monica Groop, Ilya Grubert, Werner Güra, Pierre Hantaï, Erich Höbarth, Soile Isokoski, María Cristina Kiehr, Topi Lehtipuu, Julia Lezhneva, Riccardo Minasi, Alexander Rudin, Carolyn Sampson, and Dmitry Sinkovsky. He has conducted the modern premiere of Koželuch's Gustav Wasa (dir. Ville Sandqvist), Handel's Acis and Galatea (dir. Vilppu Kiljunen) and Haydn's L'Isola disabitata (dir. Johanna Freundlich) for the Finnish Chamber Opera, Carissimi's Jephte (dir. Juha Mustanoja) for Kokkola Opera, Pergolesi's La Serva padrona (dir. Ozren Prohić) for the Croatian National Theatre, Telemann's Pimpinone (dir. Ville Saukkonen) for Rovaniemi Korundi, Handel's Alcina (dir. Vilppu Kiljunen) for Vaasa Baroque, Paisiello's La Serva padrona (dir. Ville Saukkonen) for Les Lumières, and Monteverdi's L'Incoronazione di Poppea (dir. Vilppu Kiljunen) for the Finnish National Opera.

Aapo Häkkinen has recorded for the labels Aeolus, Alba, Avie, Cantus, Deux-Elles, Naxos, and Ondine, and for numerous European radio and television companies. A writer and broadcaster about many aspects of the early music world, Häkkinen hosts his own programme on Classic FM in Finland. Besides the harpsichord, he regularly performs on the organ, on the clavichord, and on the fortepiano. He has commissioned, given premières, and recorded music by Lucio Garau, Eero Hämeenniemi, Mário Laginha, Jyrki Linjama, Jukka Tiensuu, and Tapio Tuomela. Aapo Häkkinen has edited a series of 17th century Florentine keyboard music for Ut Orpheus Edizioni. He teaches at the Sibelius Academy and at international masterclasses (Tokyo University of Arts, Universidad Nacional de México, Kulturstiftung Marienmünster, Bratislava, Sofia, Tallinn, Tampere, Turku, Zagreb Academies of Music). He is Artistic Director of the Helsinki Baroque Orchestra and of the Helsinki Musiikkitalo Early Music Series as well as the Janakkala Baroque Festival.

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