Bernardo Pasquini cropped up two months ago in Andreas Scholl’s ‘Arcadia’ recital (Decca, 3/04) and here he is again, this time in a recital devoted to his keyboard music. Pasquini (1637-1710) was celebrated as a harpsichord player, much sought after by noble and royal patrons. He spent most of his working life in Rome, where for nearly 50 years he served as organist of Santa Maria in Aracoeli. He was a friend and colleague of Corelli; along with Alessandro Scarlatti, they were admitted to the Accademia Arcadia on the same day.

Whereas the painting by Andrea Pozzo in the New Grove dictionary shows Pasquini relaxing at the keyboard in his turban, the face in the unattributed portrait reproduced in the CD booklet is solemn, pompous even, crowned by a Charles II wig. Indeed, there is much stateliness in this music: about half of the pieces are in variation form. A typical example is the Passagagli in C – 16 variations on a simple four-bar phrase. The Variationi cappricciose in the same key, on the other hand, is a little suite including a Corrente and a Sarabanda. As the titles indicate, the dance element is featured in the sets of variations based on the bergamasca and the saltarello.

The longest piece, the Ricercare con la fuga in più modi, shows the composer’s skill in old-fashioned counterpoint. Pasquini never modulates from the home key (C again), but holds the listener’s interest by varying the time signatures and introducing the occasional chromatic phrase.

The excellent Roberto Loreggian brings an attractive improvisatory quality to his playing, starting some pieces with a flourish of his own and employing rubato here and there. The trills in the inner parts of the ‘cuckoo’ Toccata hold no terrors for him, though by the end you might well want to strangle the bird. He is joined in a didactic sonata for figured bass by cellist Francesco Ferrarini, who plays with splendid vigour; I couldn’t quite believe in the pizzicato last movement. This is well worth investigating, but not perhaps not the whole CD at one sitting.