Maestro Rilling is considered one of the leading authorities on the music of Bach and his contemporaries. He is currently the Nicholas Goldschmidt conductor-in-residence of the yearly International Bach Festival at U of T's Faculty of Music. He is also the one who will, through combined lectures and performances, interpret Bach to the listener in a variety of presentations from October 1 to 9. Of course, he will not be the only one. A host of national and international artists will join him in the various programs during afternoon and evening performances throughout the nine days.

Since Rilling, who founded the Gächinger Kantorei in 1954 and then in 1965 the Bach Collegium Stuttgart, is seen as the Bach ambassador around the world, I arranged a brief e-mail interview with him. It is not the best medium to conduct an interview, especially since he did not have the time to sit at the computer to answer back and forth, but only replied to questions sent to Germany ahead of time to an assistant. Nevertheless, an interesting exchange happened that makes worthwhile reading.

This is his credo, so to speak: "Music should startle people and reach deep inside them, forcing them to reflect. It should never be merely 'comfortable', never be fossilized, never soothing."

It is a hard credo to absorb for there are moments when people seek comfort in music for whatever reasons, yet it is also a credo with which one cannot really disagree. So I posed my questions to the Grammy Award winning Maestro Rilling, based on what friends and acquaintances have often said to me because they are less involved in music than I am.

Here is one of the questions: What would you say to someone who feels that Bach's music is "too much head music and not enough heart music?"

Rilling had this reply: "In Bach's music we have never head without heart or heart without head. If you are missing the heart listen to his chorales, for example in the St. John Passion or to the alto aria, 'Erbarme dich' from the St. Matthew's Passion."

It is a good answer, but it does avoid the fact that in his own day Bach became known as a pedant, and in his later years his music fell mostly out of favour. Pedants, as we know them, stick to strict rules and literal meanings, which rob subjects of their heart, or perhaps better expressed, their soul. His own son, Johann Christian, known as the London Bach, was one of the composers, who was loved far more for his style galant, a more elegant, graceful music, even while his father still composed in Leipzig.

I hear frequently that to some people Bach's music sounds all the same after a while. Rilling had this to say in response to the question I posed to him: "A person stating this seems to me rather superficial. There is a vast and rich variety of music in his work going from his sacred music — cantatas, oratorios — to music for orchestra — the six Brandenburg Concertos, for example — or his music for keyboard instruments — organ, harpsichord, piano."

My response to this answer is that, yes, it may be a superficial view of Bach, but not everyone has the opportunity to study Bach or to be exposed to the composer's vast repertoire. Often people only hear what may be offered on the radio. Rilling's answer is, however, one given by someone who has an obvious respect and love for the composer that exceeds the ordinary person's knowledge. Consequently, such specialists forget to look at the amateur's experience. The fact is that while Bach created wonderful music, yet at its worst, his music displays signs of haste and impatience (he regularly had to compose for specific occasions). As a consequence the music can be dull, even if one cannot really say that it is 'bad' music. It was not beyond Bach to dash off some formulaic piece, but since it was his own formula, he had the ability to make it seem fresh at the time.

I asked Rilling this: "I hear people say, 'Bach is alright in church, but not in the concert hall.' What is your response?"

"Yes, for Bach's sacred music, the best venue is still the church. But certainly his concertos or his chamber music were never performed in church. In our times the strength and the atmosphere of his music will have to transcend the venue where it is performed."

One cannot find fault with this answer. All of Bach's music was, in a way, sacred music. He is said to have been a religious man, who practiced his Lutheran faith to full extend; his library held many ecclesiastical books. In an age when Heaven and Hell were fearful realities rather than abstract ideas as they are today, he had an obsession with death; he stood in awe of God, uncertain of whether he would end up in Hell or in Heaven. Bach is quoted to have said that the aim and reason for music "should be none else but to the glory of God and the recreation of the mind." Just how much this Lutheran believed that music was an expression of divinity is attested through the fact that he started the score of his sacred music with JJ (Jesu Juva 'Jesus, help' ) and ended it with SDG (Soli Deo Gloria 'To God alone the Glory').

To my questions about many people's notion that Bach's music is too mathematical, and that it lacks emotional involvement, Rilling said this: "I have answered this already with your first question — there is no music of Bach which is only 'thought out' or 'mathematical'. There are pieces where these aspects stand in the foreground as the 'Art of the Fugue' or the canon on his famous portrait."

In Canada, of course, Bach came to the attention through the late Glenn Gould, who in this country is considered the master of playing Bach. Gould's piano recordings of the Goldberg Variations (composed for Bach's pupil Johann Gottlieb Goldberg) are venerated by those who appreciate Bach. I asked Rilling, "What do you like or dislike about his playing and his interpretation of the works?"

This is Rilling's response: "Glenn Gould is a wonderful artist and certainly he opened the ears of many people for Bach's music. But this is already some time ago. Nowadays you can compare a wide variety of Bach interpretations. They are very different — but with this difference prove the quality of Bach's music."

Rilling, who was born in 1933 in Stuttgart, could have easily chosen another baroque composer as his ideal. Handel, Hayden (his life bridged the baroque and romantic periods), Vivaldi, Telemann (who probably composed far more music than Bach) or Palestrina, to mention a few. So, I asked him what fascinates him about Bach and why he bestowed his affections on him and not on someone else.

"Bach has brought together in his music the evolution of music which was written by the composers of previous generations. In the centre of his work stands the sacred music. Like no other composer he portrays the heritage of Christian faith. He is also THE teacher of music history. All composers after him were — in very different ways — influenced by him," Rilling replied.

Since people often want an introduction to a composer to get a sense of his music before delving deeper into his works by buying CDs or attending a concert that features the artist, I asked him to recommend a work. "Have the 'someone' listen to the second movement of Cantata BWV 78, 'Jesu, der du meiner Seele'. This piece is a duet for soprano and contralto and basso continuo and I am sure the 'someone' will walk away smiling."

One hopes so, for Bach is not exactly known for injecting humor into his music, nor is he renowned for having had much humor in his personal life. His portraits feature a man with an uncompromising face, one who is bent on having his own way. He was a penny pincher, and it is said his children and pupils lived somewhat in fear of him. Only a couple of Bach's pieces come to my mind where one can find humor although there may be more: the 'Coffee Cantata' and his 'Capriccio on the Departure of the Beloved Brother'.

I had two more questions, one of which he had indirectly answered with his explanation about why he chose to concentrate on Bach. The other, about what modern composers he likes in particular, remained unanswered with this comment: " Sorry I have to stop here. If you have more questions can we talk in Toronto?"

I certainly will try to meet Maestro Rilling when I attend one of the lectures cum concerts. But, being ever the reporter who doesn't like unanswered questions, I dug a little deeper into Rilling's background and found that he has championed the works of quite a number of modern composers. Rilling has commissioned works by Penderecki, Arvo Pärt, Wolfgang Rihm and Tan Dun. Why he chose them he will have to answer later, although one can guess from knowing their style of composition. But Rilling's heart is obviously devoted to Bach. Between 1970 and 1985 he recorded all 200 of Bach's church cantatas. Then there is the Cannes Classical Award in 2001 for the Hännsler 'Edition Bachakademie', which consists of 172 CDs of the complete works of J. S. Bach. These were released in 2000 in commemoration of the 250^th anniversary of Bach's death. The city of Leipzig presented Rilling with the Johann Sebastian Bach Medal in 2004 in recognition of his dedication to the promotion and performance of Bach's works throughout his professional career.

These are only some of the honours bestowed on Rilling through the years. He is a man who strongly believes that music has the power to cross political and ethnic boundaries. He proved this passionate belief by opening Bach academies in Athens, Budapest, Buenos Aires, Caracas, Krakow, Moscow, Prague, Santiago de Compostela and Tokyo.