Internationally celebrated organist Paul Jacobs performed J. S. Bach’s masterpiece The Art of Fugue at Walt Disney Concert Hall on Oct. 12. Called “one of the major musicians of our time” by Alex Ross of The New Yorker, Jacobs is the only organist ever to have won a Grammy Award — in 2011 for Messiaen’s Livre du Saint-Sacrement.
The Art of Fugue is 75 minutes of what Jacobs himself called “some of the purest music ever conceived.” It consists of 12 fugues and four canons that are possibly the most in-depth exploration of fugal writing, though the canons were not performed that night.
Jacobs was personally connected to his instrument like I had seen no other musician before, as if it were a part of him. Previously, especially with Bach, my view of the organ was very limited. Based on previous performances of Bach and the organ in general, I assumed that the expressive range was limited due to the lack of natural dynamics like a piano has. However, Jacobs’ performance was eye-opening and revelatory in this way. He showed extreme comfort with an instrument he likely only had a day or so accommodating himself with, with one foot almost always on the swell or crescendo pedal to control the dynamics as excellently as he did.
Often, the final notes of The Art of Fugue’s unfinished last Contrapunctus are played quietly and mystically; however, Jacobs pulled out all the stops for the end, playing forte, which I found very inspiring, as a representation of Bach’s final musical hurrah to the world (interrupted by his death), which The Art of Fugue is. These final notes brought the audience to its feet.
At the start of each Contrapunctus, the lighting changed to perfectly match the mood that Jacobs achieved throughout each little fugue. Some were presented as mystical, with light greens, blues, whites or purples, such as Contrapunctus 10, with Jacobs’ rendition demonstrating that Bach’s works are not just mathematically complex, but also emotionally and evocatively so; while others, like Contrapunctus 6 in the French Style, or even the last unfinished Contrapunctus, were dark and brooding with low, rumbling bass — deep red or purple lighting reflecting it as such.
Jacobs made an excellent point before the performance. He claimed that The Art of Fugue, while widely recognized as one of Bach’s greatest, is hardly played. But I believe this is the kind of tour de force that could attract new classical music fans. Case in point: I brought a friend to the concert who is relatively new to classical music and had never heard The Art of Fugue before, and after Jacobs’ creative and masterful approach to this masterwork, he was excited to find another concert on the LA Phil calendar and return to Disney Hall.
—Haydn Schlinger, Culture Spot LA
For information about upcoming concerts, visit www.laphil.com.