Transferring Bach’s music from one instrument to another is all the rage these days – no fewer than seven of the recent Gramophone Critics’ Choice selections featured Bach transcriptions of one sort or another – yet justification for the practice has always had secure grounding in the form of Bach’s own readiness to do it. And nowhere was he more systematic in re­arranging his music than in his harpsichord concertos‚ transcriptions of earlier works such as the violin concertos and the Fourth Brandenburg Concerto. In his booklet­note for this release‚ Richard Egarr expresses impatience with the modern predilection for restoring the remaining concertos to their ‘original’ forms for violin‚ oboe or whatever‚ claiming that the harpsichord versions have integrity enough of their own. So they do‚ and a harpsichordist would have to be mad not to want to play such marvellous music‚ but it cannot be denied that‚ for all the care which Bach took over these transcriptions‚ they offer a number of tricky performance problems. Most pressing is the matter of ensemble balance: quite simply it is difficult for a harpsichord to make itself heard properly. One cannot help feeling that even Bach would have admitted to having made some sort of compromise here. The Academy of Ancient Music’s solution is the commonly made one of using single strings‚ which does not quite fix everything‚ but does mean that the harpsichord can play with a little more refinement and delicacy and that the strings can stop treading on eggshells. Indeed‚ it is rather nice to hear so clearly what they are up to in Bach’s unfailingly clever accompaniments. More radical in this recording is the inclusion of theorbo continuo‚ which adds a novel slight buzz to the overall sound. Personally I found it rather irritating‚ especially as it seemed to me that its anticipatory spread chords were clouding the texture more than they were clarifying it‚ but others may disagree‚ and it is certainly good to see such experimental spirit. The performances themselves offer pleasures and disappointments by turn. Egarr plays with sprightly intelligence and crisp articulation‚ scoring notable successes in the concertos in E‚ D‚ A and F minor‚ vivacious works which all the players realise with all the relish of seasoned chamber musicians enjoying themselves to the full. How could they not‚ indeed‚ when even Bach himself is so exuberant? The wide­ranging arpeggio flourishes of the E major’s finale are sheer and irresistible keyboard flamboyance‚ whilst the equivalent movement of the A major has Manze unable to restrain his own eagerness to make a mark on proceedings. Elsewhere‚ however‚ I detected a lack of energy and vibrancy surprising for these particular performers‚ with the D minor‚ F major and G minor concertos all failing to achieve full potential. Overall‚ too‚ there are occasional minor tempo fluctuations and intonation slips. I do not wish to suggest that these are anything but sound performances of great music which stand up well to current competition‚ but in spite of some very good moments they somehow fall short of the expectations raised by these musicians.