Phantasm - Four-Part Consorts - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Album Tracks 1. Tallis A Solfing Song 2. Byrd Queen's Goodnight (Prelude and Ground) 3. Parsons A Song of Mr. Robert Parsons 4. Tallis In Nomine II A4 5. Parsons In Nomine III A5 6. Parsons de la Court 7. Ferrabosco Pavan A5 8. Byrd Missa A4 - Kyrie 9. Ferrabosco In Nomine II A5 10. Byrd Missa A4 - Gloria 11. Tallis In Nomine I A4 12. Byrd Missa A4 - Credo 13. Ferrabosco In Nomine I A5 14. Byrd Missa A4 - Sanctus 15. Ferrabosco In Nomine III A5 16. Byrd Missa A4 - Agnus Dei 17. Parsons Ut Re Mi Fa Sol la 18. Ferrabosco Fantasia A4 19. Byrd Pavan A6 20. Byrd Galliard A6 21. Parsons A Song Called Trumpets 22. Ferrabosco Sur la Rosée (Fantasia A6)

This is the third and final instalment of the Well-Tempered Consort series (5 Diapasons, Gramophone Editor's Choice, BBC Music Magazine Chamber Choice). In this programme devised by it's director Laurence Dreyfus, the viol consort Phantasm continues to shine new light on the fugues from Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier interspersed with some of the composer's most harmonically adventurous experiments from the Clavierübung III. This polyphonic feast also includes two works from the Inventions and Sinfonias as well as the Fantasia in G major BWV 572, or Pièce d'orgue as it is sometimes called, which boasts an extraordinary closing pedal point. A fitting end to a remarkable journey! Album Tracks 12. Well-Tempered Clavier Book 2~Prelude No. 12 in F minor BWV 881 23. Well-Tempered Clavier Book 2~Fugue No. 20 in A minor BWV 889 24. Fughetta super Allein Gott in der Höh' sei Ehr BWV 677 (from Clavier-Übung III)

In this new recording Phantasm make no excuses for arranging some of Bach's remarkable keyboard music for a consort of viols. Led by director Laurence Dreyfus they go on a conscious mission to uncover the hidden riches concealed behind the more neutral resources of the harpsichord and organ so as to liberate the fascinating characters lurking in the shadows and behind the scenes within Bach's individual polyphonic lines. In the process of fugal confrontation among three to six musicians, they come face to face with the astounding psychological insights of Bach's most radical inventions. Drawn chiefly from the two books of the Well-Tempered Clavier, the Musical Offering and the Clavier-Übung III, the repertoire chosen for this recording has an uncanny way of forging Bach's links with the old English traditions of the Fantasy and In nomine as much as leaping forward into a chromatic twelve-tone world where the raw emotions of expressionist modernism become not only audible but adventurously relevant. A second installment of The Well-Tempered Consort is already planned for 2021.