Phantasm – J.S. Bach: The Well-Tempered Consort – I (2020) [FLAC 24bit/192kHz]

The miracle of Bach’s music is that you can arrange it for any type or number of instruments, and it’ll still come out shining. This joyful album features a selection of the composer’s keyboard works framed by two movements from the Musical Offering, usually performed by flute and strings. Phantasm, a consort of five viols—early versions of the modern cello—bring aspects of Bach’s thrilling counterpoint to light with expressive touches here and there, and often a lightness and variety of texture that’s hard or impossible to achieve midflow on the organ, harpsichord or piano. Rarely have Bach’s fugues sounded so dancelike, light and fleet, especially the great E-flat Prelude and Fugue BWV 552 or the Prelude No. 24 from Book 1 of The Well-Tempered Clavier.

Tracklist:
1. Musical Offering, BWV 1079: Ricercar a3 (5:57)
2. Inventions and Sinfonias: Sinfonia No. 9, BWV 795 (2:44)
3. An Wasserflüssen Babylon, BWV 653b (3:11)
4. The Well-Tempered Clavier Book 1: I. Prelude No. 19, BWV 864 (1:17)
5. The Well-Tempered Clavier Book 1: II. Fugue No. 19, BWV 864 (2:18)
6. Prelude and Fugue in C Major, BWV 547: II. Fugue (3:13)
7. The Well-Tempered Clavier Book 2: II. Fugue No. 17, BWV 886 (2:21)
8. The Well-Tempered Clavier Book 1: I. Prelude No. 22, BWV 867 (2:16)
9. The Well-Tempered Clavier Book 1: II. Fugue No. 22, BWV 867 (2:25)
10. The Well-Tempered Clavier Book 1: II. Fugue No. 14, BWV 859 (3:00)
11. The Well-Tempered Clavier Book 1: I. Prelude No. 24, BWV 869 (2:28)
12. The Well-Tempered Clavier Book 1: II. Fugue No. 24, BWV 869 (5:44)
13. The Well-Tempered Clavier Book 1: II. Fugue No. 9, BWV 854 (1:17)
14. Clavier-Übung III: Aus tiefer Not, BWV 686 (4:56)
15. The Well-Tempered Clavier Book 2: I. Prelude No. 22, BWV 891 (1:56)
16. The Well-Tempered Clavier Book 2: II. Fugue No. 22, BWV 891 (3:28)
17. Vater unser im Himmelreich, BWV 737 (2:07)
18. Clavier-Übung III: Fugue, BWV 552 (5:33)
19. Clavier-Übung III: Kyrie, Gott heiliger Geist, BWV 671 (3:52)
20. Musical Offering, BWV 1079: Ricercar a6 (6:46)