It’s not so often that a double bass player gets headline billing on a festival, so when you’ve got one of the calibre of American bassist Edgar Meyer, why not put him front and centre? That’s exactly what Artistic Director Carl Vine did in the opening concert of his final Musica Viva Festival, Meyer kicking off the four-day event with an astonishing performance of JS Bach’s First Cello Suite.

Edgar Meyer at the 2019 Musica Viva Festival. Photo © MONDE Photo

Meyer launched into the flowing semiquavers of the famous opening Prélude with an extraordinary lightness, his instrument’s high notes almost indistinguishable from the sound of a cello, but for a greater resonance, before a drop into the muscular low register made no bones that this was a double bass. There was an occasional moment – an awkward stretch, some strained intonation – that gave away the dangers inherent in translating the Suite to the larger instrument, but Meyer’s technique was deft and nimble, and the resonant sustain of the bass notes gave the music organ-like grandeur, while the folky double stops of the final Gigue had an earthy strength. Purists...