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Amazon.com Musicologist William Malloch approaches Bach's hallowed valedictory opus with affectionate irreverence. His peppery orchestrations chop up and toss the counterpoint into a crazy salad of orchestral invention. Percussion effects are liberally sprinkled throughout, from wispy castanets to full blown disco handclaps. Malloch also takes kooky compositional liberties. Contrapunctus #9, for instance, strays through Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Mozart, and Shostakovich without missing a beat. The final, unfinished movement dematerializes into dissonant haze as the musicians fugue away into the sunset. The performances bustle with zest, and do full justice to Malloch's ingenious arrangements. Or should one say "de-rangements?." --Jed Distler