Bach's Goldberg Variations live from London's Wigmore Hall

Linton Stephens presents an afternoon of exceptional music-making, featuring a live concert from Wigmore Hall. Violinist Julian Rachlin, violist Sarah McElravy, and cellist Boris Andrianov perform Dmitry Sitkovetsky’s striking arrangement of Bach's Goldberg Variations. Written in 1985 to mark the 300th anniversary of Bach’s birth, the arrangement has since become a chamber music classic in its own right. Long-time musical collaborators, the trio bring years of shared experience and a deep connection to the work, revealing fresh insight into Bach’s endlessly inventive and transcendent score.

Elsewhere in the programme, there is a week-long focus on London with exclusive recordings from the London Symphony Orchestra. Today it performs Igor Stravinsky’s lyrical Divertimento from The Fairy's Kiss under the direction of Gianandrea Noseda. Also featured today is Johannes Brahms’s first Viola Sonata performed at LSO St Luke's by internationally acclaimed musicians, violist Antoine Tamestit and pianist Bertrand Chamayou. The programme also includes highlights from the London International Festival of Early Music, with a sonata by George Frideric Handel and vocal music by Marc-Antoine Charpentier.

Live from Wigmore Hall and presented by Hannah French

Johann Sebastian Bach (arr. Dmitry Sitkovetsky)
Goldberg Variations BWV988

Julian Rachlin (violin)
Sarah McElravy (viola)
Boris Andrianov (cello)

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Igor Stravinsky
Divertimento from ‘The Fairy’s Kiss’ (rev. 1949)
London Symphony Orchestra
Gianandrea Noseda (conductor)

Johannes Brahms
Viola Sonata No 1 in F minor Op. 120
Antoine Tamestit (viola)
Bertrand Chamayou (piano)

George Frideric Handel
Sonata in F major, Op. 1 No. 11, HWV. 369
Dorothee Oberlinger (recorder)
Peter Kofler (harpsichord)

Marc-Antoine Charpentier
Le Reniement de St Pierre
Academy of Ancient Music
Students from the Guildhall Historic Performance Dept & Vocal Dept
James Johnstone (conductor)

To listen to this programme (using most smart speakers), just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Classical Live".