As in all of Bach's teaching works, the power of the music transcends the context in which it was written. The fifteen two-part inventions and three-part symphonies are an integral part of piano lessons today. They follow a key order that Bach most probably intended for his younger pupils; however, they are spared the double crosses and bold modulations of the two parts of the Well-Tempered Clavier. The purpose of the collection was clearly not so much to deter young keyboard players as to invite and motivate them - the "eager to learn", as Bach called them in the introduction to his autograph, written in Köthen in 1723. An older copy shows that the first pupil to be taught using these pieces was none other than his eldest son Wilhelm Friedemann, for whom he had already created the Clavier-Büchlein in 1720. In the older collection, the pieces are called "Praeambulum" or "Fantasia"; in the later collection, they were renamed "Inventio" or "Sinfonia". This was in line with Bach's intention to shape the pupil's compositional talent, especially his ability to get "good inventiones" and to "get a strong foretaste of the composition".

Mahan Esfahani combines the inventions and symphonies in his recording with other pieces that suggest a pedagogical use. He uses not only the harpsichord as an instrument, but also the more intimate clavichord, which was often used for teaching and private music-making due to its more differentiated sound possibilities. Once again, Esfahani proves himself to be one of the most interesting and exciting Bach interpreters of our time as part of his highly acclaimed Bach recording project with HYPERION.