Mahan Esfahani’s mammoth project to record the complete keyboard works of Bach reaches a new high point with The Complete Keyboard Concertos. At every stage in the series Esfahani has sought to challenge long-held assumptions about the composer we seek to know. By teaming up with the Britten Sinfonia, he dispels any assumptions that the harpsichord might be seen as an ‘ancient’ instrument, eschewing period instruments in favour of modern ones.

In his typically scholarly but engaging liner notes Esfahani writes of Bach the trendsetter putting the keyboard front and centre in a concerto for the first time. In addition to his roles as harpsichordist and director, Esfahani adds a compositional feather to his cap with the first recording of his own reconstruction of the “lost concerto” No 8 (BWV1059), once available only as a small fragment.