Triptyque

Johann Sebastian Bach supplied the bridge that led Belgian oboist Marcel Ponseele, a veteran of the early music scene, to this compelling collaboration with the honey-toned jazz trumpeter Jean-Paul Estiévenart. Their *Triptyque*, inspired by the concept of a painting in music, explores three Bach-based “panels” from classical and jazz perspectives. They move from the misery of the world, encapsulated in Estiévenart’s *Improvisation on B-A-C-H* (Track 1) and the “Sinfonia” from Bach’s cantata *Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen* (Track 2), to a state of spiritual enlightenment, crowned by an engrossing arrangement of the chorale from the cantata *Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin* (“With peace and joy I go from here”) (Track 10). The journey takes in the scenery of Estiévenart’s ruminative *Transition* (Track 7) and his intensely beautiful interpretation of the “Adagio” from Bach’s *Harpsichord Concerto in D Minor, BWV 1052* (Track 6).