As Peter Wollny reminds us in the liner notes, Bach’s keyboard concertos constitute a group of innovative works of historic importance, marking the true beginning of the very genre of the keyboard concerto. It is natural, therefore, that they have entered the standard repertoire of pianists, some of whom have left us landmark recordings, even though the more recent discography, especially, is on the whole somewhat limited.

The young and talented pianist Gile Bae (who was born in the Netherlands, is Korean in origin, and has close ties with Italy) presents us with a new recording of the first five concertos in a project that is also a “Journey in Italy” unique of its kind, for each concerto was recorded in a different location of the Bel Paese that Bach loved without having ever visited it.

Bae’s fellow travellers on this project are the Archi di Santa Cecilia and their director Luigi Piovano, who with this album make a further addition to their successful collaboration with Arcana. The project is enriched with a bonus DVD which contains the filming of the recording of each piece.