A quick glance at this disc and most readers familiar with recent trends in Bach performance will assume that what we have is yet another set of the organ trios transcribed for a trio sonata ensemble, as already offered by (among others) London Baroque, the Purcell Quartet, the King’s Consort and the Palladian Ensemble. But in fact, three of the the five works here are realisations of the implied trio-sonata scoring of the sonatas for viola da gamba and harpsichord, in which the gamba remains but the two harpsichord lines are handed out to other instruments, the whole filled out with chord-playing continuo. There’s probably nothing here that Bach would have baulked at (BWV1027, for instance, was already an arrangement of a sonata for two flutes and continuo anyway) but it is fair to say that, as the existence out there of further “trio” and “gamba” sonata arrangement discs by the likes of Hille Perl, Pieter Wispelwey and the Rare Fruits Council show, there is something of a modern trend going on here.

The advantage of these transcriptions, of course, is that the individual lines emerge much more clearly, the better to appreciate their faultless contrapuntal interplay, and Camerata Köln thoughtfully vary the upper-line scorings from work to work, juggling flute, recorder and violin so that no combination appears twice. Not surprisingly, the gamba continues to cast a beautiful and melancholy spell over “its” sonatas, while the “organ” trios, in any case more modern and carefree, come over as brighter and livelier with a violin at their heart. The performances by these experienced Baroque musicians are technically accomplished and consistently tasteful and stylish; if not as quirky or extrovert as some of the others mentioned, they make a perfect guide to this exquisite music nevertheless.