St John’s Smith Square, London, SW1P 3HA

Coming out of the long break of the Covid pandemic, we return to our founding inspiration: the music of J.S. Bach, complemented here with a piece by Dieterich Buxtehude, Bach’s admired older colleague. The group was founded in 1996 and gave its first concerts the following year. So this is also a 25th anniversary celebration. Rachel Elliott has been the Bach Players’ regular soprano voice: she sang in the first concerts of 1997 and sings here in two pieces. Buxtehude’s ‘Quemadmodum desiderat cervus’ is a glorious, exulting piece in hypnotic chaconne form. Bach’s secular Cantata ‘Non sa che sia dolore’, with its beautiful Sinfonia and elaborate flute parts, is a lesser known gem. Two of Bach’s most celebrated works complete the programme. The fifth Brandenburg Concerto gives solo parts to flute, violin and harpsichord. The canons from the Goldberg Variations are played here in an arrangement by Silas Wollston for strings and basso continuo – Bach’s mathematics has never sounded so delightful.

The music

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750): Brandenburg concerto no. 5 in D major, BWV 1050

Dieterich Buxtehude (c. 1637–1707): Sacred concerto ‘Quemadmodum desiderat cervus’, for soprano, two violins and basso continuo, BuxWV 92

Johann Sebastian Bach: Canons from the Goldberg Variations, BWV 1087 (arranged by Silas Wollston)

Johann Sebastian Bach: Cantata ‘Non sa che sia dolore’, BWV 209

The musicians

Rachel Elliott soprano, Marta Gonçalves flute, Nicolette Moonen violin, Jean Paterson violin, Rachel Stott viola, Jonathan Manson cello, Silas Wollston harpsichord