Alan Dudley:

>I realised that I had not been listening to Bach, I had not even been
>listening to Bylsma; I had been listening to that wonderful cello and
>the way it was reproduced by my system (nothing very special BTW).
>The sound quality was distracting me from the music,

This reminds me of Plato's Myth of the Cave, about folks who had taken
shadows for reality until they were free to leave the cave.  I want to
ask what could be more musical than the sound of that cello.  Sure, the
raw sound is only one element of the music of Bach, but the sheer sensuous
aspects of music are vital to what music can be, and give life to its more
formal aspects.  Keep listening to this recording; I predict that its
formal and sensuous aspects will come together for you.

Jim Tobin