One of the challenges for a modern-day viola da gamba virtuoso is the need to be constantly searching for (and finding) new and demanding solo repertory with which to demonstrate technical and interpretative prowess – especially given that the supply of this dried up during the course of the Baroque era. One of Fahmi Alqhai’s solutions to this challenge is the more-than-legitimate recourse to transcriptions, and in a tour de force on 'The Bach Album' he presents four such reworkings – all made by himself – of solo instrumental masterpieces by the great composer.

Alqhai has adapted the Second Violin Sonata, the Fourth Cello Suite, and also the Flute Partita. He completes his programme with the astonishing – and inexhaustible – Chaconne from the Second Violin Partita. This final flourish from one of his concert programmes and his recording for this new Glossa release, made in the Estudios Sputnik in Seville, clearly shows how his interpretation has been honed in live performance. That these transcriptions sound as though they could have been written for the viola da gamba is, of course, testament to Bach’s genius. It is, however, also, a reflection of the naturalness and vivid communication that is the hallmark of Fahmi Alqhai’s playing and musical thinking.

Spanish viola da gamba player Fahmi Alqhai is one of that select group of artists who define and shape the world of Glossa. With his ensemble Accademia del Piacere, Alqhai has, for some years now, been turning away from the well-worn pathways in order to explore new possibilities in terms of presentation and interpretation.