Several crowned heads have left their mark on Bach's work, including Frederick the Great and the young Johann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar, with whom Bach was friends and whose concertos he transcribed for keyboard instruments. But the leading role in this concert clearly belongs to the “queen of instruments”: the Trost organ from 1731 reduces the surrounding castle chapel to mere decoration. Jörg Halubek also conducts its awe-inspiring sound in the Passacaglia in C minor, a powerful sound structure in which Bach, in Arnstadt, attempts to master the North German style he encountered in Lübeck.

Jörg Halubek is an internationally renowned conductor, harpsichordist and organist who specialises in early music. Currently, he is Professor of Historical Keyboard Instruments at the Stuttgart University of Music and Performing Arts and Artistic Director of the International Handel Academy Karlsruhe.