Anner Bylsma’s admirable attitude towards historically-informed performance is demonstrated in some fine period-instrument recordings. His insistence on using gut strings on a spikeless cello for pre-twentieth-century repertoire is indicative of a thorough approach and he was pioneering in his use of the five-stringed violoncello piccolo for certain viola da gamba works, including Bach’s Cello Suite No. 6. He is unusually outspoken about his aesthetic agenda; of the term ‘authenticity’ he says: ‘(this) is used as a weapon by some to exclude fellow musicians, and as a marketing tool by record companies to help sell records, even when the performance is not “authentic” at all. This word actually means whatever one wants it to mean.’ He accuses modern music...