Ihr werdet weinen und heulen (BWV 103): opening chorus

Listening to this, perhaps Bach's weirdest opening chorus (and that's saying a lot!), Alex and Christian get tangled up in the forest of the complexities of this music.  We untangle some, but we also sit in and admire the thorniness of this piece of music, which perfectly portrays its text.  And we talk about how Bach can make us feel existential fear, not through flashy orchestral effects, but through the deep mysterious complexity of the music itself.  The special moment comes in a sudden bass recitative in the middle of the movement, like a clearing in the forest.  But this clearing is not free of thorns either...

Netherlands Bach Society plays BWV 103, directed by Shunske Sato