Is Sigiswald Kuijken the first person ever to record Bach’s solo violin music and his solo cello music? If not – these pieces are a happy hunting ground for transcribers after all – he must surely be the first to do so on the instruments for which they were (perhaps) written. For yes, this pioneer of the Baroque violin, who back in the ’80s produced the first convincing period performances of the Sonatas and Partitas, now brings us the Cello Suites on the violoncello da spalla, or shoulder-cello. Sometimes also known as the viola pomposa, this obsolete instrument is basically a smallish cello played horizontally like a violin instead of vertically between the legs (catch Kuijken playing it on YouTube if you want see it in action), and is often casually mentioned in connection with Bach’s Suites, the last one in particular. As far as I know, however, this is the first time anyone has seriously tried to play it; Kuijken had one specially made for him five years ago, and has gained mastery of it in impressively quick time.

The sound, perhaps not surprisingly, sits somewhere between those of the cello and the viola, achieving a happy combination of the former’s depth of tone and the latter’s melodic lucidity. But there are other advantages: in Kuijken’s violinist’s hands a lithe, running smoothness of line is possible, shown to good effect in the Bourrée of Suite No 3, the Gigue of No 4 or the Courante of No 6. Indeed, Suite No 6 emerges as quite a beauty, with the spalla’s reduced bass resonance really cleaning up the texture of the Prelude, and the high-lying top lines singing out with silvery voice.

Against these advantages, an occasional technical awkwardness (shown, for example, in the Prélude of No 4) is but a small concern. Kuijken’s own musicianship is also a major plus. There must be few players who start their relationship with these wonderful pieces so late in life, and there is much wisdom and fine Baroque sensibility on show here; Kuijken’s secure momentum and gentle grasp of the music’s dance rhythms are something any player could learn from. However much it may look like an eccentric experiment, this questing release from one of the great figures of the period revival is one of major interest.