J.S. Bach: a Baroque revolution

"No man is an island," John Donne wrote in 1624. Historians and musicologists would be quick to caution us against ascribing too great an importance to any one figure — but the contributions of Johann Sebastian Bach were so innovative, ingenious, and wide-ranging as to constitute a veritable musical revolution unto themselves. For many, Bach remains the most important composer of the Baroque era, or perhaps of all time. Harmony and counterpoint found arguably their most exalted expression in Bach's music, and he composed epoch-making works for nearly every extant instrument and formation; his influence on the subsequent centuries of Western music is immeasurable. Spend some time in Bach's extraordinary universe with this playlist.