As I’m sure your mother told you, it is important to try new things, but eating one’s vegetables is usually more palatable if there is something more appealing on the plate as well. And so it was with Concert No 4 of this weekend’s smorgasbord of chamber music at the Musica Viva Festival. On the menu was a modern music sandwich with baroque/classical bread, offering something to please all tastes.

Opening the concert was Latvian cello legend Misha Maisky, who has been delighting audiences throughout the Festival with a series of Bach’s Cello Suites. For this third afternoon of the Festival Masiky delivered perhaps Bach’s most well-known work, Suite No 1 in G Major. With his colossal stage-presence and an insight into this music no doubt developed over decades, Maisky’s performance is bright and nimble, but with a great deal of emotive sensitivity and elasticity. The nuanced inflection of his delivery gives this very familiar piece an elating sense of spontaneity. Barely pausing between movements, the Suite flows fluently from Maisky, a study in perpetual motion, as he luxuriates in the slow movements and effervesces in the sprightly dances. Yet again, the combination of Bach and Maisky makes...