In the intelligent booklet-notes accompanying David Korevaar’s recording of Bach’s Partitas, the pianist discusses the music’s dance origins in extensive, well-researched detail. But can one dance to Korevaar’s actual performances? His mannered phrasings in No 1’s Praeludium hint at the curvaceous Allemande that follows complete with overwrought embellishments on the repeat, a Corrente that sometimes rushes at the ends of bars and a lyrically drawn-out Sarabande that conveys little of Angela Hewitt’s firm centre and inner rhythmic integrity. Korevaar enjoys manipulating linear strands: sometimes with marvellous wit and élan, as in No 2’s Rondeaux, yet sometimes without a clear-cut foreground and background focus, as in No 4’s Menuet. No 5 hits and misses, starting with a Praeambulum that is rudderless to the point of prissy and concluding with a Gigue where the agogic stresses do not get in the way of the music’s joyous build.

A generally understated, direct account of the A minor Partita (No 3) reveals Korevaar at his best, as does No 6, where the pianist displays a higher degree of controlled freedom in the Toccata’s easy ebb and flow. The Air is sedate yet gently lilting – yes, you can dance to this one! – and the Sarabande’s ornaments and discreet pedal effects illuminate the music’s harmonic tension. The carefully scaled dynamics and gradations of touch with which Korevaar shapes the Gigue’s contrapuntal layers and embellishments rank high in recorded Bach pianism. I would have expected a more consistent set of Partitas from David Korevaar, whose earlier Well-Tempered Clavier and Goldberg Variations better exemplify his strongly individual and authoritative Bach pianism.