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Special offer. Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1
Mahan Esfahani (harpsichord)
Awards:
-
The Guardian Classical Albums of the Year, 2025
To extract colour and atmosphere from a harpsichord is a much bigger challenge than to do so from a Steinway, but Esfahani brings a pleasantly varied palette to his task...This a plain and straightforward...
Special offer. Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1
Mahan Esfahani (harpsichord)
Purchase product
Awards:
-
The Guardian Classical Albums of the Year, 2025
To extract colour and atmosphere from a harpsichord is a much bigger challenge than to do so from a Steinway, but Esfahani brings a pleasantly varied palette to his task...This a plain and straightforward...
About
The combination of interpretative flair and meticulous scholarship may be an uncommon one, but it’s very much a hallmark of Mahan Esfahani’s playing. His ongoing, widely praised, Bach series demonstrates a seemingly inexhaustible abundance of both as it reaches one of the landmarks of the keyboard repertoire: Book 1 of the ‘48’.
Contents and tracklist
- Mahan Esfahani (harpsichord)
- Recorded: 2024-05-08
- Recording Venue: Parish Church of St. John the Baptist, Loughton, Essex
- Mahan Esfahani (harpsichord)
- Recorded: 2024-05-08
- Recording Venue: Parish Church of St. John the Baptist, Loughton, Essex
Spotlight on this release
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Awards and reviews
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The Guardian Classical Albums of the Year2025
November 2025
To extract colour and atmosphere from a harpsichord is a much bigger challenge than to do so from a Steinway, but Esfahani brings a pleasantly varied palette to his task...This a plain and straightforward account of Bach's great work, but the playing is clean and never burdened with superfluous ornamentation.
October 2025
he plants the music's power firmly in the realm of performance, and backs himself up with an interpretation that emphasises its flexible, human features.
28th August 2025
his approach never seems wilful or perverse, and with a few exceptions – to my ears, the C sharp minor fugue does seem unnecessarily lugubrious – his choice of tempi is uncontroversial, his shaping of each movement wonderfully lucid.