Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra - New Zealand

Bach Collage

Stephen Layton, Director of Music at Trinity College, Cambridge, returns with a typically ingenious programme, putting music of our own time in the context of music of the past. J.S. Bach is at his most exuberant in Jauchzet Gott and the Magnificat. These works frame two pieces by a contemporary master who has been deeply inspired by Bach. Persecuted for his religious beliefs in 1960s Estonia, Arvo Pärt wrote his Collage sur B-A-C-H in tribute, using Bach’s actual music in places. Pärt’s own music, as we’ll hear in the Berliner Messe, is timeless and austere, yet utterly mesmerising.