Maya Homburger (baroque violin)

St Ann's Church, Dawson Street

Partita No 1 in B min, BWV 1002 - Bach

Sonata No 3 in C, BWV 1005 - Bach

The church was cool so, before playing Bach, Maya Homburger warmed her instrument, an Italian baroque violin made in 1740 and in its original baroque condition, by playing a short three movement Fantasy by Telemann. This homely gesture towards the needs of the instrument helped to humanise the music which can, in its disregard for merely mortal capabilities, seem inaccessible. The violin virtuosi known to Bach may have relished the challenge of the unaccompanied Sonatas and Partitas; Maya Homburger must have at least equal skill, and the natural way she makes the music flow suggests that for her the challenge has been subsumed in a delight in the extraordinary edifices of sound that can be won from a wooden box, four strings and some stretched horsehair.

Admiration of her facility yields to appreciation of the mysterious dimensions evoked by an art which bears a relation to mathematics but is so much more.

It is partly the subtle flexibilities of her rhythmic approach that breathes life into these scores; one should also mention the beautiful sound she gets from the violin, a sound which seems to bloom in the acoustic of St Ann's. In her hands the "period instrument" becomes the only one that allows this music to communicate fully. No apology or explanation is needed; it is the performers on modern instruments that need to question their results.