Richard Egarr is the doyen of English harpsichordists at present, displaying uninhibited virtuosity, rhetorical and dramatic sensibilities, and an ear for refinement of sound. This discriminating recital combines the familiar (including a marvellously dapper Italian Concerto) with more pragmatic and intimate Bachian creations which are too often lost in the crevices of the expert's discography. The two Vivaldi concertos are idiomatic, thrilling and revealing exposés of Bach's hands-on approach to mastering new styles. Perhaps more diverting still is the Fantasia and Fugue in A minor, where Egarr shrewdly considers the intense coexistence of contrapuntal and textural relationships in the fantasia, before a fugue of extraordinary clarity of interpretative design. This is playing of real stature.
The remarkable Sonata in A minor, after Bach's aged spiritual mentor Reinken, might have been arranged as early as 1703; it's a masterful demonstration of a young man in full creative flow. Egarr has the edge on Staier's penetrating but relatively dry execution; here we have a quasi-Toccata and Fugue of dazzling colour and affirmation before an Allemande portrayed with somewhat looser stitching, a highly affecting manipulation of rhythm. This exquisite recital ends with the mature, unfinished Fantasia and Fugue in C minor, with Egarr's own reworking of the fugue.