Organist Katrina Liao joins us to talk about one of her favorites, this chorale prelude that is crackling with spiritual fire. The off-beat bass at the beginning is a neat touch -- could Bach have meant to signify the Holy Spirit by focusing on the 3rd division of the beat? -- but, Katrina's favorite moment comes in the second verse, when the bass gets to carry the melody with a strong, reedy pedal sound. Christian also points out a hidden "B-A-C-H" motif.

"Komm, Gott Schöpfer, Heiliger Geist" organ chorale prelude (BWV 667) performed by Reitze Smits for the Netherlands Bach Society

Why do we play games? Because they're fun? Or is it because they give us a sense of structure and a clear goal, a refreshing contrast to our real lives, which are messy, unpredictable, and complicated?

In the same way, we listen to Bach to give a much-needed feeling of structure and clarity to our hectic, messy lives.

But sometimes, he doesn't quite give us what we expect. He breaks the patterns. And it's at those moments when we can catch a glimpse of the angels in the architecture.

Italian Concerto, BWV 971, second movement, as performed by Christine Schornsheim for the Netherlands Bach Society

"Wandering Flame", from the soundtrack to Final Fantasy X; this track is by the composer Masashi Hamauzu

Link to chapter 1 of "Travels in Hyperreality" by Umberto Eco; the discussion on Disneyland mainly takes place on pages 43-48 of this document

An austere fugue subject here begins with a strange leap. To play this four-note opening on a keyboard is to outline a symmetrical structure, reminding us of the bare pillar that holds up the structure. Adorned on the structure are two faster, florid themes which enter later in this long piece.

But our moment today is its ending -- a deceptive ending leads to a brief coda, but when it happens, its harmony strikes us with a surprising dissonance, feeling almost like the resolute major tonic triad that it wants to become. But a pesky A natural, the sixth scale degree, dashes this to pieces.

Bertrand Cuiller plays the C# minor fugue (with prelude) for the Netherlands Bach Society