Did you not try to go back systematically to the sources, the places where the pieces were first performed? That’s impossible, because there are perhaps only two organs that we’re sure were played by Bach. It’s not much to go on. But in fact his music can survive being played on the piano, the accordion, the synthesiser, and goodness knows what else. It’s so perfect that, to mutilate it, you really have to make a huge effort! (laughter) What touches you most deeply in his output? (He pauses for a moment) Movements like the ‘Kyrie eleison’ and the ‘Crucifixus’ in the B minor Mass, for example, or some of the arias from the St Matthew Passion, which are heartrending. It would be much harder to tell you which pieces I don’t like! How would you define the vision of Bach’s organ music you have tried to convey? In any case, I’d say it is above all a deeply human vision. 29 ANDRÉ ISOIR
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