Phantasm - J.S. Bach: The Well-Tempered Consort – I - BBC Music Magazine

Performance 5*
Recording 5*

I see what they did there with the title, but this programme is in fact a first instalment of arrangements from both books of The Well-Tempered Clavier alongside moments from the Clavier Chung III and The Musical Offering. An academic exercise in counterpoint? Think again. In the hands of Phantasm this is anything but. The consort sound is a balm of well-tempered, flowing sweetness, often heightened by judicious transpositions to maximise the instruments’ resonance, but at the fore is a playful sense of exploration into the chromatic corners and remote tonal areas originally intended to promote an  otherworldly effect.