Autour de Bach
Pentaèdre
ATMA ACD2 2841 (atmaclassique.com/en)
Pentaèdre is a compelling and refreshingly unique Quebec-based chamber ensemble that, since its founding in 1985, has been boldly working to expand the canon of classical music through the creation and dissemination of new work. One of the group’s missions is to introduce chamber music fans and classical listeners alike to new work that both draws inspiration from and moves beyond the body of established repertoire. Their latest release, Autour de Bach, couples transcriptions for wind quintet of J.S. Bach works with the Bach-inspired Quintet No.3 by the late American composer David Maslanka and succeeds on all fronts.
Bach’s music, with its weaving and intersecting lines that have the strength of purpose to stand alone but coalesce with a beautiful and logical precision, is the perfect foil for this egalitarian and cooperative ensemble that knows exactly when to put forward individual lines with a clarity of purpose and when to abdicate one’s individual agency for the overarching blend and good of the ensemble. While some of the pieces contained on this fine album will, no doubt, be familiar to listeners (Fugue in G Minor BWV565), the three-part developmental Maslanka contribution – which offers the group an opportunity to explore tempo, dynamic range and expressivity – slots neatly alongside Bach’s music, producing a congruent and compelling artistic presentation by this fine ensemble deserving of wider recognition.
