Ensemble Vivant - iFugue ~ A World of Fugues (2025) [Hi-Res]

Ensemble Vivant’s iFUGUE ~ A World of Fugues album pays homage to Johann Sebastian Bach. It features masterful fugues from around the world by Astor Piazzolla (Argentina); Heitor Villa-Lobos (Brazil); Aldemaro Romero (Venezuela); John Burke and Michael Coghlan (Canada); Dmitri Shostakovich (Russia); Antonio Vivaldi (Italy); César Franck (France); and of course, the King of the Fugue himself, Johann Sebastian Bach (Germany).

Two of Bach’s Preludes and Fugues from Volume 1 of his Well-Tempered Clavier are included on this recording: No. 9 in E Major, which I perform for solo piano (Track 5), and No. 13 in F Sharp Major (Track 2) to which John Burke ingeniously added the wonderful strings of Ensemble Vivant.

When the great, now late Canadian composer John Burke heard Antonio Vivaldi’s fugue in e minor (from Sinfonia in e minor for strings and continuo), he immediately knew it would be a perfect complement to our fugue project. I was thrilled when he presented this delightful fugue which he arranged and gifted to Ensemble Vivant. It was John who cleverly coined this ‘iFUGUE’ which fittingly leads off this album.

The idea for this album was sparked when I discovered the wonderful fugues of Argentine Tango master Astor Piazzolla. Ensemble Vivant was preparing for our Homage to Astor Piazzolla recording and the introduction to some of Piazzolla’s fugues inspired me to seek out masterful fugues written by other composers from different cultures around the world. Like so many composers, Piazzolla revered the music of Johann Sebastian Bach and he fervently studied Bach’s contrapuntal writing, especially the fugues.

Ensemble Vivant’s recordings on the Opening Day Entertainment Group label (ODEG) are heard on radio around the world. iFUGUE ~ A World of Fugues is the group’s 15th album.