In the main, Markku Luolajan-Mikkola and Miklós Spányi offer steady, conscientious, and slightly self-effacing renditions of Bach's three viola da gamba sonatas. The disc opens with the composer's B minor flute sonata in an unaccredited, but darkly effective recasting. Several factors, however, work against a wholehearted recommendation from these quarters. One is the tangent piano's domineering timbre that relegates Spányi's excellent continuo realizations to top billing status. Second of all, the resonant sonics seem more appropriate for Bach's majestic organ works than the intimate scale of these gamba sonatas. At least this disc proves that using an early model of the fortepiano in place of a harpsichord or modern concert grand is entirely plausible for this repertoire.

--Jed Distler