Miriam Teppich & Pavlos Carvalho in Chichester

 Miriam Teppich & Pavlos Carvalho, Chichester Cathedral, Sept 17

One doesn't live by Bach alone although I sometimes think one could try but there's no need to. Many will know Pavlos Carvalho from his performances of the Cello Suites at the Chichester Festival and, so far, vol. 1 of his recordings of them but he does other things, too, and today it was Miriam Teppich that gave us the Chaconne from Partita II in D minor for solo violin, BWV 1004.

Such music is like a solitary candle illuminating the dark. It shines forth before its intricacies lead us to a sense of affirmation, its abstraction speaks to us like no other. The Chichester audience was noticeably rapt in their attention to Miriam's precision and emotional input and not for the first time in recent weeks I knew I was exactly where I wanted to be.

Pavlos followed with the considerably less well-known Gaspar Cassado (1897-1966) whose music is nonetheless worth looking up. His Suite for Solo Cello, like any must, clearly owes a debt to Bach but is C20th and Iberian. The Preludio-Fantasia is atmospheric with ghostly top notes and resonant with the intense melancholy of Fado. That might not sound very Bach but the Sardana was recognizably similar dance music needing fancy footwork to keep up with the energetic fingers of Pavlos in its final passages. The Intermezzo e Danza Finale mixed choppier rhythms with longer perspectives and, as Pavlos explained, completed a very individual work that nonetheless synthesized a wide range of 'influences'.

Glière's Three Pieces for violin and cello, op. 39, came as something of a surprise while having heard of him that is only as far as associating him with Glazunov and grand Romanticism. Thus the Gavotte, all classical to the point of baroque, was confusing while utterly charming. The Berceuse was even more so. But this is Glière in disguise, like Prokofiev is in his Classical Symphony, and a brilliant disguise it is, too. The Scherzo ended proceedings exuberantly and an encore would have been appropriate and gladly received but our revels are scheduled to be ended by two o'clock.

Miriam and Pavlos communicate an entirely natural warmth that complements their fine musicianship as another act always readily welcomed back to Chichester. It is taken for granted that I say such music is taken for granted there but it shouldn't be. House prices within striking distance of Chichester should be inflated due to their proximity to such events.