Bach’s three Sonatas for Viola da Gamba and Harpsichord, BWV 1027-29 have been variously dated, either to Bach’s Cöthen period, where as Kapellmeister he was responsible for all instrumental music, and had at his disposal a small but outstanding ensemble of musicians, or to the later period in Leipzig, when he was occupied with the Collegium Musicum. These intensely expressive and often technically demanding, yet intimate works have the usual texture of Bach’s instrumental sonatas, with two upper parts supported by a bass part.

How do you describe a feeling, an atmosphere, a memory? How do you reach a state, a space without words? Trio Peltomaa Fraanje Perkola explores unworldly states in their newly created album komorebi, combining their original compositions and improvisations with inspiration from medieval chant and Finnish poetry. A word that cannot be transcribed, Komorebi refers to three Japanese words:木(ko),漏れ(more), and日(bi) with no straightforward translation. It can be described as “to the sunlight shining through the trees”. It beautifully captures the interplay of the aesthetics between the light and the leaves, and the shape of nature’s most profound earthly existence.

I’ve become increasingly fond of Aapo Häkkinen’s recording of the Goldberg Variations since reviewing it in 2009, and I was therefore more than happy to see his name appearing against some further favourite repertoire. Rameau’s Pièces de clavecin en concerts were written and published when his reputation as a composer of opera was already well established, and the nature of the music follows patterns which might relate to Couperin’s Concerts royaux and composers such as Mondonville.