Music history is full of “goosebump moments” – those instances when sounds get up right close to us, penetrating our most secret enclaves and striking a chord with something inside. Sometimes it’s a big, opulent orchestral sound or the energy of a pop concert with thousands of people. But most often, it’s actually the moments of extreme reduction, almost to an essence of the sound, that touch body and soul in such a way that leaves us still thinking about them weeks or months later. When musicians go into this sort of reduction, making themselves vulnerable in the most extreme concentration of artistic resources, the aura of the extraordinary shines through. One such moment, for example, comes in Bach’s famous St. Matthew Passion, shortly before Jesus cries out with the last of his strength: “My God, why have you forsaken me?!” And then an alto voice rises, “Ach, Golgatha”, revealing something like the core message of this Bach work and the theme: “this reaches my soul!”