Glenn Gould was Bach's medium, his understanding of his music perhaps will never be equal by anybody. Gould never made a complete record of The Art of the Fugue but only for the final fugue on 3 subjects it's a must have. Profetical and luminous.

Nikolayeva's recording is very well too but her sin lies in her romantic piano approach that minimized the bachian spirit. This music needs no ornamentation or egocentrical enrichments. Simple is better.

Metals made the canons shine with pristine clarity and gave a heavy weight to the music. One of my favourites.

With viols ensemble the music sings so sweet and soft that we can expand our being with the sound. This Fretwork version is magnificent.

This is an excellent version with harpsichord. More idiosincrasic than piano versions and more intimate too.

Keller Quartet offers a string quartet version with an historically informed performance and an interesting tempo flexibility that adds a new dimension to the music. Great.

Savall's version with viols ensemble and winds shines with a more vast colour palette. The articulation is more than outstanding. A treasure.

Jean Claude Malgoire offers an extraordinary rendition with period orchestra transforming the subjectivity of the sound in a more objective whole (if that is possible). Needs to be listen.

Magnificent piano version by Gregory Sokolov, perhaps a little romanticized but with clarity in its flowing nature. The sound quality is not so good because of its age but worth to hear.