Leamington Music: St Mary’s Church, Old Square, Warwick CV34 4RA

Coming out of the long break of the Covid pandemic, The Bach Players return to their founding inspiration: the music of J.S. Bach, complemented here with a piece by Dieterich Buxtehude, Bach’s admired older colleague. 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, Rachel Brown flute, Nicolette Moonen violin, Jean Paterson violin, Rachel Stott viola, Jonathan Manson cello, Silas Wollston harpsichord