The second night of a show is always a tough one – summoning up energy after the exuberance of opening night, finding a way of keeping things fresh, being nervous of doing it again and it being less good than the first go. I was worried the same would be true of the second county in the project; but actually, what I’ve always said I’m looking forward to about it all – the fact that every performance will feel completely different – proved to be true, overriding any sense of ‘better’ or ‘worse’.

St Matthew’s Church in Northampton was the setting. The Director of Music there, my friend Justin Miller, had the brilliant idea of arranging the layout so that we were in the round. This brought such an intimate atmosphere to the whole thing – the piano in the middle of the nave, lid removed to avoid blocking sightlines, and chairs dotted around in all directions, carefully distanced, and all facing towards the music. The effect was somehow meditative, and together we were absorbed into the hypnotic, intricate world of Bach.

I was playing Book 1 here, and split it across two concerts, one morning, one afternoon. The first was (for me at least) strikingly peaceful – the audience was smaller, and the selection of preludes and fugues I’d put together leant more towards the introspective. The second had a bigger group – many of the morning attendees stayed, and others joined. This set also featured more of the outgoing music – whether joyful or agitated. Maybe I’d subconsciously allowed myself time to wake up before the fast notes… In fact I was concerned the previous day when I realised how unbalanced the two sets were in that way: but I should have trusted the music to speak for itself, as the different feel of each of the concerts was from my perspective one of the lovely things about the day. That, and the sun streaming in through the window as I played.

St Matthew’s has a rich musical and artistic heritage. Erstwhile vicar Walter Hussey, son of the church’s first vicar Rowden Hussey, commissioned an extraordinary sequence of artworks for St Matthew’s – reviving the medieval tradition in church buildings of exploring faith through art. Here sits Henry Moore’s Madonna and Child, carved in 1943 when Moore was relatively little known. It is very striking: solid and shiny, strong yet tender, all-encompassing yet human (like Bach, I can’t help thinking…) – I was glad to have time between performances to sit with it. The guide points out that the knees are blackened from decades of visitors unable to resist touching it, so enticingly smooth is the stonework. On the opposite wall is Graham Sutherland’s The Crucifixion of 1946. Sutherland was a war artist, thus familiar with portraying the horrific reality of death – making this painting more impactful (real, human, painful) than many crucifixion illustrations. The suffering jumps out at the viewer, I think. It is modern yet somehow of no particular time.

Hussey’s contribution was also musical: he commissioned major works such as Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb (in the premiere of which I’m told Tippett himself sang tenor, as the wartime choir was depleted) and Finzi’s Lo, the full, final sacrifice – 1943 and 1946 respectively, pairing the above physical artworks – as well as pieces by Howells, Rubbra, Berkeley, Arnold… a “who’s who” of the British musical world of the time. Britten and Tippett both stayed in the vicarage, Wagnerian soprano Kirsten Flagstad sang in concert here. What a heritage!

Today Justin runs a busy musical scene, with an active choir of children and adults. The setup is well connected with local schools. He’s continued the pattern of commissioning new music (most recently A Little Organ Mass of the Angels from Northampton-born Robert Walker, for the organ’s 125th anniversary). The Friends of St Matthew’s Music support the choir and the church’s busy concert pattern.

And Justin also fundraised to buy the church’s Yamaha C7 piano, which I had the pleasure of playing! It is a big instrument but not harsh, with some lovely colours to be found. What a great resource for the church and the town.

Interestingly St Matthew’s is one of two large anglo-catholic churches in the centre of Northampton with thriving choral setups – the other being All Saints. How good to hear from Justin that they collaborate happily!

One of the (many) joys of this project for me is the chance to catch up with friends in different parts of the country. The wonderful Rob and Lorette provided a homely space to crash out and regroup between concerts, while Justin and Richard hosted a magnificent dinner party in Cambridge afterwards (I’m in awe of anyone who can rustle up three courses of Ottolenghi dinner having been organising concerts all day!).

On the Monday following, I visited the hugely impressive Malcolm Arnold Academy in Northampton. It is part of the David Ross Education Trust network of schools; the trust in essence promotes educational excellence, academic aspiration, breadth of opportunity – and places great emphasis on the enrichment activities of sport and music. You might say it replicates much of the best of independent school education in a state school environment. Music scholars are given financial support towards instrumental lessons, and are offered performance opportunities, visits to hear concerts around the country, chances to take part in projects with the Gabrieli Ensemble or Nevill Holt Opera. On the wall, above where people were eating lunch when I arrived, is the Plato quote: ‘Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything.’

The exceptional Simon Toyne heads up the music across the DRET network (34 schools, incorporating primary, secondary, grammar and special schools). And so, in addition to the twenty or so GCSE and A-level students in the room, there were groups from three other DRET schools joining via Zoom, visible to us on a big screen: Lodge Park Academy nearby in Northamptonshire, and Skegness Grammar and Humberston Academy in Lincolnshire. And again I got to catch up with friends – conductor Nic Chalmers slipped in to the session just as I started, as he’s been working with some of the A-level students. I’ve so missed bumping into people like this in the last year!

I opened with the C major Prelude and Fugue (Book 1), instantly recognisable to many, and used it as a starting point to look at what a prelude or a fugue is, and how they’re constructed. The genius of Bach, I suggested, was taking just one small, simple idea (an arpeggio chord, or a few notes of a fugue subject) and turning it into a whole world or journey through his inventiveness of harmony and his reshaping of ideas. The students were wonderfully attentive and engaged, and had some fantastic questions after I’d played a long set to them. Which keys do I most like playing in, which chord is my favourite in a particular prelude, how do I get into the spirit of each piece when Bach gives no more hint in his titles than ‘Prelude’. The groups on Zoom had great questions too – does it help to think enharmonically when playing in very remote keys, for example (up to a point yes, but actually in the moment I find if my eyes are reading one thing and my brain thinking another, it’s impossible to untangle, like thinking in two languages at once…).

It was great to meet these thoughtful students and their skilled teachers. Hopefully I might meet up with the Lincolnshire groups later on the tour! And I’ll be back in Northamptonshire for Book 2 at some point too, date to be determined. All in all, a very satisfying visit. Thank you to everyone who made it happen.