My Christmas has been marked strongly by Radio 3's Bach marathon, ten days continuous broadcasting of Bach's complete output.

Highlights for me have included the intensely chromatic cantata Fürchte dich nicht, more Ligeti than Leipzig cantor; Emma Kirkby and Christopher Hogwood's Wedding Cantatas; Glen Gould's rockstar 1955 Goldberg Variations (having previously disdained this recording for its strong injection of performer personality and the Keith Jarrett groans, I was infected by its young-man-virtuousity); Joseph Joachim's 1903 recording of selected violin partitas; Roger Norrington's B Minor Mass from the 2000 Proms.

My introduction to Bach came when I was thirteen, at the hands of Giles Hogben. Giles was a new school friend and a violin prodigy; he played me Bach's sonatas and partitas in the chapel of St Augustine's Abbey, and the Brandenburg Concertos on his fancy-pants CD player (fifteen years later he played Bach at my wedding). Around the same time, I sang as a treble in a performance of the St John Passion under the choirmaster Barry Rose. Since then, I've listened to Bach's music more than to anyone else's: the 48s, the Goldberg Variations, the cello suites, the Art of Fugue, the Passions. I know this sounds pompous, but I believe that his art is the greatest human achievement.

Happy Christmas!