BRIGHTON Festival may be under way but All Saints Church sees a marathon performance all of its own tonight.

In a feat of solo virtuosity, Isabelle Faust, a renowned instrumentalist, scales the heights of the violin repertoire in an epic performance of the complete Sonatas and Partitas by Bach.

The works will take more than two and a half hours to perform at All Saints Church in The Drive, Hove.

Speaking to The Argus, Ms Faust said: “It’s such a special experience to do all of them in one evening – for the violinist as well as the public.

“With this repertoire you enter a very special world. If you can stay there and do the whole thing, and not stop until it’s really finished, you really go on this journey.”

The six works, completed in about 1720, are hailed as having set the standard for solo violin pieces to this day.

Technically fiendish and emotionally profound, the Sonatas and Partitas test the limits of a performer’s powers.

Because of its length, the marathon performance will be split into two events on the same evening.

“I prefer to do it all in one evening”, Ms Faust said.

“Even if it’s across two days, one after the other, it creates something different – everyone goes home and comes back and you have to start from zero to find your way back into this repertoire.

“This way is a challenge for the musician and the public, but you give yourself a certain amount of time to find the right concentration to listen.”

Isabelle Faust is hailed as one of the leading Bach exponents of modern times. After winning the prestigious Leopold Mozart and Paganini competitions at an early age, she was soon invited to appear with the world’s leading orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo.

She has made several recordings with her recital partner Alexander Melnikov, including the complete Beethoven Sonatas for Piano and Violin.

This recording was awarded the Diapason d’Or and the Gramophone Award, both top honours for classical music performances.

Her recording of tonight’s piece, JS Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin, won another award called the Diapason d’Or de l’Annee five years ago.

She admitted not having listened to the works on CD since then – and said even audiences can be “a bit afraid” of so much solo violin in one night.

But she added: “This way is a challenge for the musician and the public but you give yourself a certain amount of time to find the right concentration to listen.”

Part one starts at 5.30pm, part two starts at 8.30pm and tickets are £10 each or £17.50 both parts.

For tickets, visit brightonfestival. org or call 01273 709709.