Mahan Esfahani - Whispered Spells and Bach NNF 2024

It's something of an unstated tradition to finish the festival with a big ticket classical concert, and while events continue into Sunday, there can be little doubt that a combination of Mahan Esfahani and the Britten Sinfonia playing Bach was the performance a lot of people had been waiting for. Before finding out if the wait was worth it, however, the festival had tucked Esfahami away in a secret location, performing the shortest concerts to the smallest audience of the festival.

It was revealed, only the day before, that Whispered Spells would be performed deep within the corridors of power found in the City Hall. So it was with a heighted degree of expectation than I gathered in the entrance hall with my fellow audience members, before all four of us were escorted through labyrinthine corridors and into a tiny, wood panelled, octagonal room, in the centre of which sat Mahan Esfahani, barely acknowledging our arrival. We'd already been instructed to make no sound, and so cautiously sat on one of chairs around him, and waited.

What followed was one of the most extraordinary moments of the festival, as Esfahani's fingers glided over the keys of the clavichord, producing the most delicate of sounds I can recall ever hearing. The instrument required the upmost levels if concentration to listen to, let along play, creating a rarefied atmosphere of a truly shared, but uniquely intimate experience that was as precious, in its tiny perfection, as a full blown orchestral recital. Too soon (ten minutes), it was all over, and as instructed we left in silence, my first words about the experience being to one of the other four, on the steps outside in Bethnal Street, both of us having been mesmerised by what we heard. "I don't know what he played either," he said. "But it sounded like Bach to me."

The concert at St Peter Mancroft definitely sounded like Bach. Four pieces from the composer were performed, with Mahan Esfahani's harpsichord at the heart of the music. Although billed as Esfahani with the Britten Sinfonia, it was a youthful Thomas Hancox that took centre stage, throwing his whole body into playing his flute with the gusto more usually associated with a rock guitarist. Together with Hannah Perowne on violin, the pair rather dominated the piece, with Esfahani's harpsichord relegated to a supporting role. The Keyboard Concerto in D minor that followed was a better showcase for the fluid dexterity of Esfahani's playing, as was the Keyboard Concerto in E Major that came afterwards. At times, his ability to glide over the keys defied rational explanation, my most cogent thought being - if Bach wrote this could he play it as well. Could anyone play it as well?

Esfahani halted proceedings at this point to have a chat, and what a personable fellow he proved to be, with a seemingly genuine affection for Norwich and its festival. I think he must have had his rose tinted glasses on, though, when presuming the buoyant state of classical performance in the provinces. Although St Peter Mancroft was pleasingly full, this would have been, at least in part, because concerts are so rarely held. Need it be said that the performance was taking place in a church because Norwich still has no modern, acoustically balanced performance arena, and little prospect of getting one. St Peter Mancroft is a magnificent setting, but isn't suited to the delicate sound of the harpsichord that struggled to be heard in the final piece of the night, the Brandenburg Concerto No 5.

Thomas Hancox returned to complete the ensemble that was, of course, note perfect as they charged through this most familiar piece of music, although the extended harpsichord solo was new to me - was this introduced as Mahan Esfahani's last hurrah to the festival or just something which, in lesser hands, I'd simply not noticed before? Either way, it was a fitting reminder that Esfahani was our notional headliner, albeit one that seemed at his most content when playing with like-minded musicians, all of whom were playing at the top of their game.