Edwin Fischer set the ball rolling in the 1930s and for many years his recording of the ‘48’ was the only one available. Today there are about 25 versions of Book 1 alone, so, according to the cliché, there is a lot of competition. In fact, eminent artists don’t compete; they make valuable contributions to the collective. Andreï Vieru’s contribution is patchy, not because he short-changes the music conceptually but because he isn’t always able to translate a particular conception into satisfactory reality. It doesn’t matter that Vieru and Daniel-Ben Pienaar approach the E minor Prelude quite differently because Bach omits a tempo marking for about half the piece. So Pienaar’s nimble view of this section is as valid as Vieru’s contemplative one; but unyielding playing results in inertia rather than contemplation, while technical insecurity mars the Prelude in F. There are similar differences in the Fugues as well: that in F minor carefully detailed and excellently structured, that in B flat tediously monotonous. The sound is a little close and there are some extraneous noises though the instrument has a full-toned presence; but Vieru’s performances are beset by unsure responses to the music and a technique that isn’t always refined.

In contrast, Sverre Larson’s fingerwork is unimpeachable (the tuning of his instrument or its mildly cramped reproduction might not be to all tastes) and reassuringly consistent. Less reassuring is a recurring tendency to casualness about the music, often effortlessly skating over it; and Partita No 1 offers an example where the Allemande, a moderately slow dance, is mechanically swift, the Courante and Gigue rattled off as exercises. Articulation is unvaried and note patterns are sparsely shaped, even in the Sarabande.

But mixed in with much that is uninspiring or cavalier are the moments when Larsen sheds what appears to be a series of formulas and gives vent to his imagination. Finer feelings are heard in the expressive Allemande of No 4, in the contrasts between rhetoric and formality in the Toccata of No 6, where the Allemande and Sarabande also benefit from consideration given to dynamic shading and apposite tempi. They show that Larsen could have produced a set to reckon with.

Angela Hewitt offers one such, complemented by Robert Woolley on harpsichord (Chandos, 11/98 – nla), an instrument that so often gets a lousy recording but not on this occasion.