Bach will always surprise you

“Bach will always surprise you,” my mom would say when I was a child. At the time, I intuitively knew what she meant; for though I was drawn to his pieces, I also found that they were more intricate and complex than other repertoire of seemingly comparable difficulty. The bar was higher, yes: it seemed like there are twists and turns hidden in the compositions, waiting to scare or derail me while playing. But that also meant that even a child’s interest in Bach’s music didn’t wane as easily as it could have with other composers.

I think as a child I used to be scared, or perhaps rather intimidated, by Bach. Now I see his music as being more like an adventure, as if he offered a journey together which I join by engaging with his compositions. To me, “Bach will always surprise you” has become a creative inspiration, not a trap — for there is so much to discover in this multifaceted music that it becomes a pleasure to hear it a little differently every time I play it. However, this spirit of eternal rediscovery reminds me to be humbly curious and not to settle.

I think that this capacity to remind us, the musicians, about humility when facing timeless masterworks of art is particularly valuable in Bach’s compositions, because it is challenging but inviting. It allows us to become parts of something bigger than us, bigger than the self, every time we play his music.