(Did classical music die years ago? Bach's music is still going strong AFAIK.)

The Classical Tradition is alive and well owing to various cultural factors that keep it so, mostly born of the same privileges that inform the folk revival, but more relevant, I feel, to its central cause BUT ultimately harder to play, demanding a degree of musicianship above and beyond anything folkies get excited over by way of mere talent.

I've been obsessing over Bach's Musical Offering (Das Musikalische Opfer BWV 1079) since picking up the Jordi Savall recording at my favourite classical music shop in Norwich back in June. This consists of numerous variations on a single theme and has given rise to dozens of further variations by way of interpretations by all manner of artists over the years, none of them ever claiming to be definitive. I have about six of them - from clunky orchestral settings from the early 60s to laser-precise state-of-the-art small ensemble recordings from more recent years (i.e. the maestro Savall - watch them do it live HERE). Each one of these recordings is a very different ball game from the others but all of them, nevertheless, managing to be the Musical Offering.