For someone who 10 years ago in an interview for The Independent claimed that Bach was ‘too boring’, a new all-Bach programme might betoken a Pauline conversion; unless, that is, it is another ‘protest’ volume, as with Zacharias’s 1996 recording of Preludes without their ‘predictable’ Fugues.

There may not be any fugues as such on his new disc but there are several gigue-fugues and no shortage of complex counterpoint elsewhere. Thankfully Zacharias’s playing displays admirable polyphonic awareness and no obvious signs of aversion. There are plenty of charming initiatives, too, in his embellishments and phrasing. Only when you turn to major artists such as Piotr Anderszewski or Murray Perahia does it become clear how much more dialogue between the voices a pianist can bring out.

In the broadest terms, Zacharias seems more concerned with unity across each collection of dances rather than with contrast between successive dances. But that is to put it kindly. Whatever the concept, the actual effect soon becomes monotonous. Again this is pointed up by comparison, for instance with the individuality Igor Levit finds in the movements of the Partita. The way he contours and colours the Sarabande with the utmost love and care, and the drive and energy both he and Perahia bring to the Gigue, are not dreamt of in Zacharias’s philosophy.

The sobriety of this approach to Bach might seem better attuned to the more intimate French Suites, and Zacharias does indeed bring out a discreet charm in each one. The B minor comes with a warmth bordering on affection. In the opening Allemande here, Zacharias is more forward-flowing than the mellower, more sophisticated Perahia, who takes more time to embellish the melodic line. Honours roughly even there. But I’d take Perahia’s sprightliness and perky ornamentation of the Courante of the C minor Suite any day over the under-energised Zacharias. Nor does Zacharias’s essentially earthbound temperament match up to the joie de vivre of Anderszewski in the G major Suite.

Overall I miss a strong raison d’être for Zacharias’s album – curious, given that he has something to prove in Bach and that his experience as a conductor should have given him plenty of means to do so.