A worthy follow-up to Phantasm’s trio of recordings mostly devoted to the fugues from Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier as arranged for viol consort (3/20, 5/21, 3/23), their new release finds them revisiting a more extended exploration of this most cerebral of musical Rubik’s cubes, Bach’s Die Kunst der Fuge.

Cerebral, yes – but as Phantasm’s Laurence Dreyfus writes in his booklet note, ‘Singing – playing lyrically – is exactly what a consort of viols can offer to the Art of Fugue’. And indeed, while there is no shortage of other recordings that choose ensembles over keyboards – reminding us that the work was originally published in open score – there is a rich cantabile here that so seamlessly moves between joy and melancholy as to evoke a kind of transcendent agon mirroring the tensions inherent in the fugue itself.

Two of my favourite period string versions are those by Fretwork and Rachel Podger with Brecon Baroque (the latter featuring harpsichord interspersions). This newcomer comfortably inhabits similar ground in favouring elegance over demonstrativeness. However, as indicated above, while Phantasm’s playing exhibits an intensity of feeling that is palpable no matter the complexity of the texture, everything seems to lead inexorably towards the profundity of the final unfinished Fuga a 3 soggetti.

Tempos are well judged throughout, while highlights along the way undoubtedly include organist Daniel Hyde’s expressive, perspicacious readings of the canons, a swaggering Contrapunctus 6 in stylo francese, the beautifully characterised alla brotta of Contrapunctus 9 and the sheer clarity of articulation and phrasing in the four mirror fugues (Contrapuncti 12 and 13). In short, a perfect balance of head and heart.