This delightful recital contains a selection of Bach’s arrangements/transformations of his own and a couple of other composers works, where Alexandra Nepomnyashchaya plays a distinctively earthy sounding Joel Katzman, Amsterdam, 1991 (after Ruckers, Antwerp, 1638) dual manual harpsicord, tuned to a mellow A=409. Nepomnyashchaya is also a pianist, who, as in the Adagio of BWV968, produces a big, luxuriant sound, with discrete ornamentation. There is rhythmic bounacy and attack with real propulsion in the Presto of BWV974 and her tempi always seem right. She isn’t afraid to take her time in the slow movements, there is some delightful phrasing and as the finale of the Italian Concerto demonstrates, she always sounds as though she is enjoying herself. You might almost say this is Russian piano school harpsichord playing. By today’s standards the album is also unusual in that the title actually bears some resemblance to its contents.

On the 24/192 stream the acoustic of the low reverberation Lutherse Kerk, Haarlem is tangible, as is the instrument’s timbre, within a middle-distance overall balance. Turn to DSD512, which is a conversion of the 24/192 master, and everything is sweeter, the resonance at the end of the Larghetto of BWV972 more natural, as is the sound of the instrument’s action.