Bach: The Complete Keyboard Concertos
Britten Sinfonia and Mahan Esfahani
Bach: The Complete Keyboard Concertos is a double album released in June 2026 on Hyperion, featuring Iranian American harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani with the UK-based chamber orchestra Britten Sinfonia. Running about two hours and twenty-seven minutes across 27 tracks, it brings together all of Johann Sebastian Bach’s concertos for harpsichord (and related keyboard concertos) including the famous Concerto in D minor BWV 1052, the E major BWV 1053, the D major BWV 1054, the A major BWV 1055, the F minor BWV 1056, the so-called “Triple Concerto” BWV 1044, and the additional concertos and fragment BWV 1057, 1058, and 1059. The set forms a major milestone in Esfahani’s “mammoth project” to record Bach’s complete keyboard works and is presented on 2 CDs as well as in high-resolution digital formats.
Interpretively, the album is notable for pairing a traditional harpsichord solo part with a modern‑instrument ensemble rather than a period-instrument baroque orchestra, a choice reviewers highlight as deliberately challenging the idea that the harpsichord belongs only in a historically “authentic” sound world. Esfahani and Britten Sinfonia favor vivid articulation, flexible tempos, and a dynamic, chamber-like interaction, emphasizing the concertos’ rhetorical contrasts and counterpoint more than a smooth, background “Baroque comfort” aesthetic. Commentators have praised the performances as energetic and freshly argued, noting that the combination of crisp harpsichord playing and an alert, modern ensemble reveals Bach’s keyboard concertos as living, dramatic works rather than museum pieces, and arguing that this release stands out amid a crowded field of Bach recordings by rethinking both instrumentation and expressive priorities.
Bach: The Complete Keyboard Concertos
Britten Sinfonia and Mahan Esfahani
Bach: The Complete Keyboard Concertos is a double album released in June 2026 on Hyperion, featuring Iranian American harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani with the UK-based chamber orchestra Britten Sinfonia. Running about two hours and twenty-seven minutes across 27 tracks, it brings together all of Johann Sebastian Bach’s concertos for harpsichord (and related keyboard concertos) including the famous Concerto in D minor BWV 1052, the E major BWV 1053, the D major BWV 1054, the A major BWV 1055, the F minor BWV 1056, the so-called “Triple Concerto” BWV 1044, and the additional concertos and fragment BWV 1057, 1058, and 1059. The set forms a major milestone in Esfahani’s “mammoth project” to record Bach’s complete keyboard works and is presented on 2 CDs as well as in high-resolution digital formats.
Interpretively, the album is notable for pairing a traditional harpsichord solo part with a modern‑instrument ensemble rather than a period-instrument baroque orchestra, a choice reviewers highlight as deliberately challenging the idea that the harpsichord belongs only in a historically “authentic” sound world. Esfahani and Britten Sinfonia favor vivid articulation, flexible tempos, and a dynamic, chamber-like interaction, emphasizing the concertos’ rhetorical contrasts and counterpoint more than a smooth, background “Baroque comfort” aesthetic. Commentators have praised the performances as energetic and freshly argued, noting that the combination of crisp harpsichord playing and an alert, modern ensemble reveals Bach’s keyboard concertos as living, dramatic works rather than museum pieces, and arguing that this release stands out amid a crowded field of Bach recordings by rethinking both instrumentation and expressive priorities.