While Geminiani’s fame as a violinist and composer remains undimmed‚ his fame as a guitarist is almost forgotten‚ and his reputation as a harpsichordist has rested on his didactic works though‚ as this recording indicates‚ he must have been a very accomplished performer. His lack of interest in opera and melodrama in a country where these were keys to fame and fortune may have led him to emigrate to London in 1714. There he had considerable success in the concert halls. It was his intellectual drive‚ rather than his performing fingers‚ that prompted him to rework some of his Sonatas Op 4 for violin and thoroughbass as the Pièces de Clavecin (1743). The predominant influence is announced in the French­language titles and emphasised by the warm sound of Fabio Bonizzoni’s Pascal Taskin instrument of 1788. The spirit of Scarlatti also hovers over several items‚ not least in the reiterated phrases‚ albeit not used in Scarlatti’s teasing fashion. There is much tasty invention‚ the occasional harmonic jolt‚ and expressive depth in what might too readily be superficially dismissed as an academic exercise. Geminiani had difficulties with money but financial gain can hardly have been a motive for the publication; few ‘essential’ amateurs would have been equal to the difficulty of some of the pieces; the second ‘Vivement’ for instance is laden with more ornaments than a Beverly Hills Christmas tree. Bonizzoni’s sure­fingered and stylish performances and superb recording make this a rewarding issue. The insert­note is informative but the English translation of the original Italian text occasionally needs interpretation‚ as when we are told that ‘we discover the composer’s contained rage’ – ‘inner passion’. Synonyms gleaned from a dictionary can be dangerous ground‚ as in the case of a Russian friend who began a letter to me with ‘Expensive John’.