Vaughan Williams: Sinfonia antartica (Symphony No. 7) & Symphony No. 9

Harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani likes to tell stories. Here, his programming brilliantly contrasts Bach’s deliberations on the Italian concerto and the French orchestral suite, while also contrasting the mature Bach with his younger self in two of his earliest keyboard works. Playing a powerful double-manual harpsichord from 2018, the sonorities, colours and drama which Esfahani brings to the music are vividly theatrical. In the scampering finale of the Italian Concerto, Esfahani plays to the gallery by introducing the extra depth of a 16-foot register, reflecting Bach’s love of the deep sonorities that emanated from the Thuringian organs he played. It proves ideal for the demands of the modern concert hall, too. There’s plenty of panache—and that 16-foot richness, again—in the improvisatory freedom he brings to the two youthful capriccios addressed to members of his family, plus the seldom-heard duets of 1739.