Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750)
The Well-Tempered Consort I
Phantasm
rec. 2019 Jesus-Christus-Kirche, Berlin-Dahlem, Germany
Reviewed as a high definition download with pdf booklet from
linnrecords.com
LINN RECORDS CKD618
[66:55]
I had the good fortune at the start of the year to
review Piotr Anderszewski’s exceptional selection from Book 2
of the Bach 48 (Warner 9029511875 -
review). Now I am doubly blessed by receiving this first volume
of what Phantasm are calling The Well-Tempered Consort. The first volume
features music from the Musical Offering and other pieces by Bach alongside
selections from both books of the 48. The second volume (review forthcoming)
is devoted exclusively to the Well-Tempered Clavier.
Listening to this recording throws up some interesting questions about
authenticity and Bach. On the one hand, Phantasm clearly embrace the
latest scholarly ideas concerning performance practice yet playing this
music as a consort of viols is anachronistic and involves playing an
arrangement. This said, playing Bach on the modern piano, as Anderszewski
does, is a form of arrangement even if he does not tamper with
the notes. The obvious conclusion is that it doesn’t really matter
so long as the performance sheds new light on very familiar music which
both Anderszewski and Phantasm both do in their own ways.
What they do have in common is seeing each piece, prelude or fugue or
whatever, as a character piece rather than just a technical exercise.
I found the notes to both volumes of the Well-Tempered Consort, written
by Phantasm’s founder and leader, Laurence Dreyfus, highly inspirational.
He quotes Robert Schumann as describing the 48 as “character pieces
of the highest type, truly poetic creations, each of which demands its
individual expression, its individual lights and shades”. I feel
this spirit illuminates both volumes.
Phantasm are particularly attuned to the dances which underpin most
of the preludes and the fugues. I suspect this is the fruit of a career
spent exploring earlier consort music where the links to dance forms
are even more direct. Their approach to these dance rhythms involves
a light touch and with no hint of exaggerated earthiness, which I think
is correct. It seems highly unlikely Bach ever intended anyone to actually
trip the light fantastic to this music!
As with a lot of Bach’s music arranged for viol consort (I think
of Fretwork’s wonderful version of the Art of Fugue), having the
voices one to a player relieves the pressure there is on a keyboard
player to make each voice distinctive. This greatly adds to the individual
character of each piece. The pieces become genuinely discursive rather
than just contrapuntal textures, each voice a separate, distinctive
actor in the drama. Hearing this music in this way only makes me marvel
more at Bach’s absolute mastery of counterpoint.
We are fortunate to live in an era where standards of recorded sound
are remarkably high but, even by those standards, the sound quality
of this release in high-definition (24/192) download is pretty spectacular.
This is like having Phantasm giving a private concert for me in my lounge.
The refinement of their playing stands up to this sort of scrutiny.
At one point, Dreyfus mentions that transpositions of the original keys
have been chosen on account of the beauty of the resonances with the
instruments. To have those resonances so beautifully caught by the engineers
is almost enough alone to make this recording worth buying.
As for the selections, Phantasm have a real ear for what might be called
‘Bach the modernist’ and particularly relish tangy chromatic
dissonances. I think of the two pieces from the Musical Offering which
sound like Bach arranged by Bartók in places. This is the Bach that
prompted Webern’s famous arrangement, or the Bach of the final
movement of Berg’s violin concerto. It is wonderfully bracing
stuff.
In case the reader is worried that this CD is somehow an astringent
listen, I would urge them to try the E major fugue from Book 1, though
in fairness you could drop a pin on this collection and turn up a treasure.
This particular fugue also demonstrates an additional pleasure to be
had from these arrangements. The fugue subject fits a bowed string instrument
so well – or conversely is slightly awkward on a keyboard instrument
– that I couldn’t help but speculate, as Dreyfus admits
to doing in his notes, on possible alternative origins for the music.
Bach’s mammoth compendium opens even further! Those of a more
scholarly bent should be reassured that I am making no academic claims
here. This is just an illustration of the effect this music making has
on my imagination.
This is no rag bag of assorted Bach goodies. Clearly a great deal of
thought has gone into the sequencing of the various pieces. The jewel
in the crown of this programme is the magnificent Kyrie, Gott Heiliger
Geist from the Clavier Übung III, BWV 671. All of the many qualities
of this recording come together in this performance – sensitive
arrangements, stellar recording (the bass viol gave me goosebumps!),
the gorgeous singing tone, the intellectual grasp of the way Bach builds
his contrapuntal texture, and something that I can only think to call
vision. This may be intimate music making but it is monumental in scope.
This disk came out in 2020 when, had I heard it, I would have made it
my recording of the year. Phantasm, as already mentioned, have recently
released a second volume. I very much hope they are not yet done with
Bach.
David McDade
Previous review: Dominy Clements
Performers
PHANTASM
LAURENCE DREYFUS treble viol and director
EMILIA BENJAMIN treble viol
JONATHAN MANSON tenor viol
HEIDI GRÖGER bass viol and violone
MARKKU LUOLAJAN-MIKKOLA bass viol
with LIAM BYRNE bass viol
Contents:
Musical Offering BWV1079: Ricercar a 3 [5:57]
Three part invention (Sinfonia)No.9 in F minor BWV795 [2:44]
Chorale Prelude BWV653b ‘An Wasserflüssen Babylon’ [3:11]
Prelude & Fugue Book 1 No.19 in A major BWV864 [3:35]
Fugue (from Prelude & Fugue in C BWV547) [3:13]
Fugue (from Prelude & Fugue Book 2 No 17 in B flat major BWV886)
[2:21]
Prelude & Fugue Book 1 No.22 in B flat minor BWV867 [4:41]
Fugue (from Prelude & Fugue Book 1 No.14 in F sharp minor BWV859)
[3:00]
Prelude & Fugue Book 1 No.24 BWV869 [8:12]
Fugue (Prelude & Fugue Book 1 No.9 in E major BWV854 [1:17]
Chorale Prelude BWV686 ‘Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir’
[4:56]
Prelude & Fugue Book 2 No.22 in B flat minor BWV891 [5:24]
Chorale Prelude BWV737 ‘Vater unser im Himmelreich’ [2:07]
Fugue in E flat major BWV552/2 ‘St Anne’ [5:33]
Chorale Prelude BWV671 ‘Kyrie, Gott heiliger Geist’ [3:52]
Musical Offering BWV1079: Ricercar a 6 [6:46]
