Bach’s organ music is something quite special. The melody coming from this strange instrument, which looks like a piece of furniture or an enormous casket, has a soothing effect on me. The sound is deep, immersing you in the dense atmosphere of the past, yet it is neither oppressive nor gloomy. It confidently takes hold of you, gradually takes the soul apart into tiny pieces and then puts everything back together, but in its own way. And in this new, carefully reassembled state there is a deep calm. A living calm. In this serenely quivering aliveness, the awkwardness and crookedness that dwelt in the soul before this musical reassembly are felt even more keenly. Listening to Bach for organ, there are no exalted ascents into a sublime sphere. Everything unfolds on a horizontal plane. In the music of the ancient instrument and Bach’s harmonious melody, the soul spreads out like a sea wave in all directions, out of itself. And, returning, it brings back a multitude of treasures from the bottom of the ocean.

Beethoven’s music is another matter. At this concert the works of the two composers were set against each other. Bach is about the deep spiritual side of life through inner contemplation, serenity and immersion. Beethoven is about being in everyday life, its bustle, its happy and tragic moments and the furious speed at which it all rushes by. Bach is organ music. Beethoven is piano. There is no contradiction in these two opposites. They complement each other and express different dimensions of being that make up the complex human soul.