Here, even more than in his first collection (3/94), Matthias Bamert makes one realise that Stokowski’s Bach orchestrations are far more than just transcriptions, and that in essence he created an entirely new composition. True, the written notes are Bach’s, although of course the chorale themes Ein’ feste Burg and Wachet auf (which here bring such grandiloquent contrasts of sonorous brass and strings) were written by others.

But when one turns to the rich, indeed luscious scoring of the glorious ‘Arioso’ (the Largo from BWV1056) and the lovely Andante sostenuto from BWV1003, the music moves entirely out of the 18th century into the late 19th and early 20th, to become the epitome of ripe Romanticism. Yet the chorale preludes, Aus tiefer Noth and Aus der Tiefe rufe ich (now attributed to CPE Bach) are touchingly expressive in the way Stokowki’s performance of Dido’s Lament could be so moving on strings alone. The dashing Preludio in E from BWV1006 (so exciting on full strings) retains memories of the original, but with the incredibly free Chaconne from BWV1004, one enters an entirely new musical world. It opens very slowly and mysteriously (utterly unlike a bow rasping on a single violin), and moves along its course, at first gently like the tributary of a great river (so well suggested by the trickling woodwind), constantly ebbing and flowing, and finally reaching an extraordinary full-bloodedly romantic apotheosis.

It is in the Fantasia and Fugue in G minor that we are thrilled by the fullest panoply of the Stokowski sound, the piece recorded here for the first time in the original scoring, which juxtaposes the sonorities of woodwinds (four flutes, three bassoons, contrabassoon, three oboes, three clarinets, bass and contrabass clarinets, cor anglais, alto saxophone), brass (six horns, four trumpets, three trombones, tuba), with the fullest possible string complement and ample percussion.

Throughout these re-creations, Matthias Bamert knows just how to achieve the kind of spontaneous flexible rubato that was Stokowski’s personal style. With superb playing from the augmented BBC Philharmonic, and marvellous rich and spacious Chandos recording, the result is truly spectacular. I can’t wait to hear the SACD!