– forwards, into another chamber of mirrors, where we invite you to begin to notice more closely the intricate lace of their structure. The effect is a lattice of light, reflecting and refracting across the solid, weighty comfort of the strings below, propelling us forwards – Locked together in amicable imitation, the two soloists throw ropes of sunshine back and forth, sometimes jumping in to finish a sentence, at other times waiting for affirmation. Take another step, and immerse yourself in the dopamine glow of Steve Reich’s Duet, still warm with the legacy of Bach’s endlessly influential counterpoint. Taken from his Musical Offering, it is a gift, to be enjoyed whole, or unwrapped layer by layer. Ricercare means ‘to seek out’, in Italian, and we find each voice calling for the next, creating a perpetual movement at the same time as a hypnotic, centred stillness. Plotted for six perfectly-aligning parts – a feat rarely tried, and even more rarely pulled off – one of the most astonishing elements of Bach’s music, and in fact many of the pieces in our concert of mirrors and patterns, is the way in which deep complexity produces an almost meditative clarity. Standing at the outer edge of our programme, the first notes of Bach’s Ricercar lead us, with disarming simplicity, into one of the greatest fugues ever written.

By candlelight and conjure