One of the first, and best, recordings of this splendid but interpretatively elusive work was made in Berlin in 1954 under the direction of Ferenc Fricsay. Like the present recording, it featured the RIAS (Berlin Radio) Chamber Choir, though in those days the fledgling choir was supplemented in the full choruses by the famous St Hedwig’s Cathedral Choir. Now it is on its own, acquitting itself superbly in all movements and dimensions; what’s more, the conductor of the entire enterprise is its own conductor, the English-born Marcus Creed.

Miklòs Spànyi’s latest volume in his series of the Keyboard Concertos by C.P.E. Bach is the 16th of an estimated total of 19, and we are thus reaching the end of a series which according to a reviewer on German website Klassik Heute has earned ‘a rightful place in the history of recorded music as an epoch-making achievement’. On the present disc we are treated to three works which illustrate the various responses of the composer to the changes that occurred in the musical establishment in the mid-18th century. Although composed within three years of each other, the two concertos are very different from each other. The Concerto in D major is a highly extrovert work, obviously intended for public concerts. This character is underlined by Bach’s later addition of wind instruments, adding colour to an already colourful piece.

Many Italian composers of the 17th century went abroad to look for a job. Most of them travelled to Austria or Germany, but some took another direction. The best-known of them was Giovanni Battista Lulli, who as Jean-Baptiste Lully dominated musical life in France in the second half of the 17th century. Another one was Pietro Antonio Fiocco, who stayed the largest part of his life in the Southern Netherlands.