In that children's book series, the title character is hidden in astonishingly complex tableaux, but in a Bach fugue the main subject rarely needs help to gain a listener's attention. It is the other themes and developments that are in danger of being overshadowed. The group's refined sense of contrapuntal balance is most evident in spots where Bach intentionally hides the first note of the main subject when it is played in the middle of a fugue. Many performers spotlight the otherwise hidden entry by accenting the first note to make it stand out from everything going on around it. Phantasm instead lets the entry emerge naturally out of the texture and surprise us once we recognize it.
Phantasm communicates more than just the subtleties of contrapuntal technique.
Phantasm catches the allusions when Bach refers to various Baroque styles, like a sacred choral motet, a French overture or a gigue. Phantasm shows how they might. The allusions help define the music's emotional character. A striking example involves the Sixth Contrapunctus. Many early-music gurus advise performers to deviate from the page by exaggerating the unevenness of the dotted rhythm of one of the themes, as a French musician of the time might have done.