Evening listening thanks to two Grand Old Men of the CD era: a Naxos disc of Rachmaninov, and a Harmonia Mundi disc of Bach.

The Rachmaninov was played by the suave Benno Moiseiwitsch and once again had me marvelling at the current state-of-the-art with transfers from 78s of the 1920s, 30s and 40s. Ward Marston is a kind of genius, once again. And Rachmaninov satisfies.

The Bach cantatas, again, had me pleased with modern recording technology (when it is good). Bach cantatas are tricky to balance, and all too often the solo voices are given microphones of their own which cause them to float, disembodied, somewhere apart from the accompanying instruments. Harmonia Mundi's latest disc, sung by the ever-reliable Bernarda Fink, is an object lesson in just how things should be balanced, with the voice well integrated with the baroque band The Freiburger Barockorchester is directed by its leader, Petra Müllejans. The three cantatas for alto voice — BWV 32 Geist und Seele, BWV 169 Gott soll allein mein Herze haben, and BWV 170 Vergnügte Ruh — are high-class Bach, particularly BWV 169. Ms Fink is no spring chicken; my first recording of her voice dates from 1989. But she is intelligent, accurate and a pleasure to listen to. All three cantatas feature a prominent organ part; as played here, it is far from the noisy beast that normally has me fleeing for the nearest exit; in fact, it is quite pleasant to listen to.

This evening's spaghetti al sugo, al modo di Bologna was truly excellent in its third warm-up.