Our series of Bach’s chamber music continues with sonatas from the great set for violin and obbligato harpsichord BWV 1014-1019. With these ground-breaking works, written in the early 1720s, Bach modernised the Baroque trio sonata, elevating the role of the harpsichord from accompanist to equal partner with the violin. They have always been admired for the exhilarating drive and energy of their fugal fast movements and the lyricism of their adagios. Steven Devine also plays Bach’s scintillating Italian Concerto and the rarely performed Aria variata alla maniera Italiana BWV 989, a youthful anticipation of the Goldberg Variations.

Margaret Faultless is one Britain’s most distinguished and sought-after violinists specialising in period performance. She is co-leader of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Head of Historical Performance at the Royal Academy and Director of Studies for the European Union Baroque Orchestra. Steven Devine is the leading British harpsichordist of his generation, and performs regularly at the Festival. He plays a copy by Colin Booth of a harpsichord made by J.C. Fleischer of Hamburg in 1710, the sort of instrument used by the Bach family.