This CD is one of Skip Sempé’s rare Bach recordings and brings the listener ever-closer to both new listening experiences and a re-discovery of some of Bach’s masterpieces in alternative versions. The choice of two superb harpsichords, with contrasting timbres - one based on a German instrument and the other on a French model, but by the same maker - creates a unique alchemy of sound. With this project of Bach transcriptions, Skip Sempé and Olivier Fortin - two of the top harpsichordists today - demonstrate once again that the score is only the beginning of an interpretation. Based on an assortment of Bach’s abundant repertoire, the programme provides contrast after contrast, fully exploiting the rare and opulent sonority of two harpsichords. Sempé and Fortin have also been heard in two-harpsichord transcriptions of works by Rameau, Scarlatti and the Elizabethan virginalists.

In Bach’s works, the overwhelming evidence for multiple harpsichord performances is the concerti for two, three and four, harpsichords, most of which are themselves transcriptions of earlier works. Pianists in the 19th and early 20th centuries often played orchestral repertoire on two pianos at home to enjoy music that they could not otherwise access. This long-awaited re-issue [from Astrée 1998] marked a new celebration of the harpsichord and of fresh, inventive Bach interpretation when it was initially released. It is now re-released concurrent with the 2015 Terpsichore Festival in Paris, of which Skip Sempé is the artistic director. Harpsichord connoisseurs will be delighted with the remastering of this recording - a new chance to discover the remarkable liberty of interpretation and expression and the overwhelming sonority of the two remarkable harpsichords.