Transcriptions and arrangements of works by his contemporaries

Bach's transcriptions and arrangements of works by contemporary composers are among the best and most important of his so-called second period. Not only were the original pieces a great source of inspiration for him, but they also influenced and enriched his further development considerably. This is one of the very few CDs in the catalogue entirely devoted to some of the best of these pieces, in masterly performances by Patrick Ayrton who gained international fame with his Globe CD devoted to harpsichord and organ works by William Byrd (GLO 5123). The harpsichord used in this recording is not the usual classical flemish Ruckers model, but a copy of a 1734 instrument by the Hamburg builder Hieronymus Hass who incorporated a 16 foot stop and lute registers in this instrument, features that must have been known to Bach and which he most exploited himself when performing these works as they must have occurred on his own instruments.