Britten Sinfonia's programme featured renowned Bach interpreter Angela Hewitt and one of the composer's greatest keyboard works, although there was a twist since Hewitt did not play the Goldberg Variations – rather these were programmed in an arrangement for string orchestra. Instead Hewitt played Bach's keyboard concerto in F minor, a work whose vivacious outer movements are thrown into relief by the serene central largo. An attractive aspect of Hewitt's playing is her way of creating contrast in a way that avoids affectation. Here the spikiness of the outer movements was tempered with warmth while the calmness of the slow movement was simply given space to unfold.
Hewitt's approach to Mozart was equally appealing. The E flat major concerto K271 is less familiar than later works in the same key, but it is full of drama on an intimate scale. Hewitt brought to this a sense of suspended stillness before chasing away any shadows with a playful account of the finale. Bridging the two keyboard concertos with Stravinsky's orchestral Concerto in D was an inspired choice, revealing the influences of Bach and Mozart on the later composer's brand of neoclassicism.
Devoid of Hewitt's compelling presence, the second half of the concert could have been an anticlimax. Instead the account of the Goldberg Variations was the outstanding performance of the evening, testament both to the success of violinist Dmitry Sitkovetsky's arrangement for string orchestra and the quality of the Britten Sinfonia's playing. Sitkovetsky's arrangement demands impeccable ensemble, intonation and articulation; these were all delivered in an astonishing performance that preserved the delicate contrapuntal intricacy of Bach's original. The result was musically compelling as well as something of a virtuoso tour de force for the Britten Sinfonia strings.
