Nicola Benedetti playing Bach in an empty St Paul's Cathedral is just breathtaking

26 April 2019, 16:58 | Updated: 29 July 2022, 13:36

An incredible moment of music – solo Bach, on a Stradivarius in London's vast Baroque cathedral

Back in 2016, star British violinist Nicola Benedetti found herself in London's St Paul's Cathedral – and it was the perfect moment for a Johann Sebastian Bach masterpiece for solo violin.

Standing beneath the famous dome of the Cathedral, she played Bach's Chaconne, a virtuosic movement from his Violin Partita No. 2 in D Minor.

The Chaconne is considered one of the most challenging pieces in violin repertoire, and features broken chords and double-stopping to create a sound that's more like several instruments playing together than just one violin.

Benedetti was in the 17th-century cathedral to record a video about the work for CNN Style. When the cathedral is empty, the building features an incredible 11-second reverberation of sound – and that resonance is one of the most striking things about this video.

St Paul's Cathedral was designed by Christopher Wren and consecrated by 1697. It is 158 metres in length and features an 85-metre high dome.