This is an enjoyable Bach recital, cleanly played and nicely recorded on one of the great organs of our time. Kei Koito’s occasional forays away from the chorale line in BWV721 are a little too contrived to be seen as spontaneous ornamentation, and her fondness for a pointedly detached touch – notably in the Fugue of BWV544 and the pedal line of BWV736 – gives the whole thing a slightly mechanical feel. But, small reservations aside, this is competent Bach-playing of an intelligently balanced programme on an organ of which we can never hear too much.

Do you detect a certain reservation in my comment; a certain lack of enthusiasm? If so, you are correct. There is nothing amiss about the playing or distasteful about the interpretations but neither is there anything either distinctive or noteworthy. Yet this attractively packaged CD includes the extraordinary (and illiterate) statement: ‘You like Bach and the cover of this cd but you don’t like organ? Then, this recording is made for you!’

What are we to make of that? Is this an attempt to popularise Bach and to break out from the conventional mould of organ CDs? If so, it fails miserably. Harking back to the cold approach to Bach’s organ music prevalent in the middle years of the 20th century, this does not even begin to compare with the innovative and communicative Bach discs that have emerged in recent decades. Ms Koito is certainly a very fine organist but the claims made for her proselytising zeal in the fields of both Bach and organ CDs are not borne out by the evidence on this disc.