Bach: The Well-Tempered Consort – III

Phantasm’s third and final album of Bach keyboard pieces arranged for viol consort is simply outstanding. The quality of ensemble playing and the sensitive way in which it has been recorded highlight not just the famed brilliance of Bach’s counterpoint, drawn here from The Well-Tempered Clavier and his third Clavier-Übung book, but also the complex emotional relationship between the individual voices in his fugues, all too often lost when played on harpsichord or piano. Sample “Wir glauben all’ an einen Gott” (Track 6) to see how heartfelt expressive freedom and surprisingly daring harmonies rise from music governed by strict rules of composition. Or dive into the fast-flowing stream of “Dies sind die heil’gen zehn Gebot” (Track 10) and the exquisite “Kyrie, Gott Vater in Ewigkeit” (Track 19) for a sense of Phantasm’s revelatory vision of Bach.