RELEASED 1.9.2008
01. Contrapunctus 1 02. Contrapunctus 2 03. Contrapunctus 3 04. Contrapunctus 4 05. Contrapunctus 5 06. Contrapunctus 6, a 4 im Stile francese 07. Contrapunctus 7, a 4 per Augment et Diminut 08. Contrapunctus 8, a 3 09. Contrapunctus 9, a 4 alla Duodecima 10. Contrapunctus 10 a 4 alla Decima 11. Contrapunctus 11, a 4 12. Contrapunctus 12, Canon alla Ottava 13. Contrapunctus 13, Canon alla Duodecima in Contrapuncto alla Quinta 14. Contrapunctus 15, canon per Augmentationem in Contrario Motu
Album is the laibachian interpretation of Johann Sebastian Bach's work The Art of Fugue (Die Kunst der Fuge). The majority of the material has been created already in 2006 and premierly performed the same year on June the 1st at Bachfest in Leipzig. Bach himself lived and worked in Leipzig from 1723 till the end of his life in 1750. In this period he also wrote the Art of Fugue, one of his most mysterious and baffling works. The Art of Fugue is a collection of fugues and canons that display the full gamut of fugal transformational techniques, such as augmentation and diminution. The theory that the work was intended as an intellectual exercise rather than for performance is borne out by the fact that no instruments are specified in the score. But although the Art of Fugue (the title was not Bach's own) reveals Bach in his most academic and puzzle-solving guise, it is no mere pedantry and there is much here of great energy and inspiration. Since Bach did not specify any instrumentation, the big question is: what instrument or instruments should the Art of Fugue be played on? There are many keyboard recordings, but versions are available for everything from saxophone quartet to orchestra. Since the work is very much based on mathematic algorithms, Laibach decided to use computer and computer program as the key »instrument«, providing a very special electronic interpretation and showing that J.S. Bach with his work could as well be understood as the pioneer of electronic, techno, computer music. LAIBACHKUNSTDERFUGE is available as digital download at MUTE (EMI), and as a CD record, released by Dallas Records.