Rinaldo Alessandrini usually records with his ensemble Concerto Italiano: his solo harpsichord recital discs are far less frequent and all the more cherished for their rarity value. Here Bach has a special place, as in his previous releases A la manera italiana and Præludien & Fugen.

This third all-Bach recital brings together around thirty short pieces from among the composer’s two hundred or so keyboard works, grouping them according to their kinship of key – like a mirror in three sections reflecting three different tonalities.

This recital’s route lets us wander around an extended archive of works from Bach’s preludes, fugues, sinfonias, inventions, fantasies, Ricercar and the Sonata for solo violin, BWV 1003 – but with their chronology entirely effaced, their order recomposed by the soloist.

As Esteban Hernández Castello explains in the accompanying booklet: “This enables us to range through the whole gamut of musical languages the composer employed, from the simplest to the most elaborate, including – and why not – pieces whose attribution is still uncertain.”

In Rinaldo Alessandrini’s playing we again encounter the unpretentious elegance that is his hallmark, his attention to detail and nuance and the radiant thoughtfulness he bestows on the polyphony – qualities that have been refined over the years by his work with Concerto Italiano and his intensive cultivation of the vocal repertoire.