Mr Spathaky bookended the programme with solo works: Bach at the (metaphorical) curtain-raiser, Gaspar Cassadó the dazzling closer. Everything pivoted on the Bach's «Cello Suite n.º 3 in C major, (BWV 1009); the Cassadó, however, was the belle of the ball: a piece performed with so much Spanish flair that a few audience members said “y olé” towards the tail-end of the performed third movement of the «Suite for Solo Cello», the intermezzo e danza finale— a fiery «jota».
Another highlight was Tchaikovsky’s Nocturne «Op. 19, n.º 4» (from the «Six Pieces»). Here Mr MacWhirter’s piano finally seemed to embrace the cello rather than wrestle it into submission— a relief after Brahms’s «Cello Sonata n.º 1 in E minor (Op. 38)», during which I found myself (not entirely unlike the anecdote Mr Spathaky recounted) wishing someone would slip the cellist a discreet microphone. Mind you, I currently live with a six-month-old who regards pianissimo as a personal challenge, so the fault may lie in my newly recalibrated ears rather than in the balance on-stage.
Let us hope my hearing recovers by next week. I’m rather looking forward to Julie Ann Carr’s choir— I’ve even been practising the top line in the shower.