Bach’s seven concertos for keyboard and orchestra are parody works — that is, they recycle music from works already in existence. This was common practice in the 18th century, and in the hands of a master like Bach, a parody demonstrated the depth of his craft by showing how comfortable a work could sound in multiple adaptations. In these concertos the orchestra consists of a four-part string section, with the exception of the Sixth, an arrangement of the Fourth Brandenburg Concerto that retains that work’s scoring for strings and recorders.

I’ve always preferred to hear these wonderful works played on a modern piano, since in combination with strings its greater heft and richer tone make for a more distinctive palette of colors than a harpsichord can provide. My critical benchmark has been Glenn Gould’s nearly complete set (also on Sony), but Murray Perahia’s collection (completed with this release) is almost in the same class, though his playing is completely different. Where Gould always gave prominence to Bach’s all-important bass line, Perahia underlines the melody and the interaction between the two. Perahia’s playing doesn’t have the same weight as Gould’s, and his phrases are shorter and clipped, a nod to period-instrument style that Gould never felt compelled to make. Perahia’s tempos are less extreme, and the famous Largo in the Fifth Concerto doesn’t quite attain the emotional depths it does in Gould’s hands. But Perahia maintains a much better balance between himself and the excellent St. Martin strings than Gould ever allowed his orchestra, so that you hear the scores much more truthfully. This allows him to pull off a near-perfect rendition of the Sixth Concerto (one Gould never recorded), and it’s one of the many joys this CD has to offer.