Bach

Undisputed champion of the baroque style, and master of the contrapuntal technique (separate musical lines played simultaneously), German composer Johann Sebastian Bach continues to amaze with the complexity and sophistication of his work, from the Brandenburg Concertos and the Goldberg Variations (written as an instrumental lullaby) to his "Toccata and Fugue In D Minor", a favourite for transcription into the realm of pop for the likes of Sky and Vanessa-Mae. Bach sets Christ's last days to music in Next Steps.

While Bach was Cantor and Musical Director of the Thomaskirche in Leipzig during the 1720s, he would write a new cantata every week — that's an incredible level of output, much of it based on Sunday readings from the Bible. His famous work, "St. Matthew Passion", dates from this time and was composed specifically for Good Friday, telling the story of Christ's final days. The "Erbarme Dich" aria we've included here has been used on soundtracks by a number of filmmakers, including Andrei Tarkovsky and Pier Paolo Pasolini. For a partita by Perahia, peruse our Bach Deep Cuts.

Recorded performances of Bach's works in the 20th century would be incomplete without the contributions of concert pianist Murray Perahia, here featured on "Partita No. 2 in C Minor", one of six harpsichord suites which caused a sensation at the time they were published (in the late 1720s) and demand a superior level of accomplishment from anyone who performs them. Perahia began listening to Bach while recovering from a series of operations to correct a bone spur on his thumb.

A couple of things you should know about the great J.S. Bach: first, he was part of an immense dynasty of Bachs (father, brother, sons, uncles) who produced great music for the best part of 200 years. Secondly, while he did not introduce the world to any new musical forms, he refined and developed existing methods into something brilliant and transcendent. By the time of his death in 1750, at age 65, he had composed more than 1,100 works. Here we offer you a comprehensive introduction to his mind-blowing legacy, which should help you plot a course from chorale to concerto, and from cantata to Christmas oratorio, in the company of incredible musicians like Angela Hewitt, Glenn Gould and Heinrich Schiff.