Felix Mendelssohn’s technically challenging F major sonata opens this lunchtime programme. Composed in 1838, it disappeared and was only discovered and edited by Yehudi Menuhin in 1953. It very quickly came to be regarded as standard repertoire in concerts. The 2^nd movement, the Adagio, strongly demonstrates Mendelssohn’s deep love of Bach’s music with its chorale-like opening, climaxing in a dramatic recitativo passage in the middle of the movement. This is sandwiched by two movements that are technically demanding of both performers. The 3^rd movement especially, with its fast, interweaving passagework, leaves the listener on the edge of his seat. This is followed by a luscious romantic-style piece by Bulgarian composer Pancho Vladiguerov, considered to be the most influential Bulgarian composer of the 20^th Century.

The three Paganini Caprices Op 40, were originally composed for solo violin by the virtuoso violinist Paganini and thereafter transcribed by various composers, amongst them Rachmaninov and Lutoslawski, for various combinations of instruments. We hear them here in a transcription by Polish composer Szymanowski for violin and piano: the third one, no 24, introduced Melvin Bragg’s arts programme, “The South Bank show” for many years. The final work in this programme is a bravura setting by Raimundo Penaforte of three songs from “West Side Story” by American composer Leonard Bernstein.