Alexander Pott (organ) joined the Musicians' Company Young Artists' Programme after winning the Musicians' Company W T Best Scholarship in 2017. Here he perform Prelude and Fugue in D major BWV 532 by J S Bach. Alexander says: "I have chosen to play one of the most exuberant pieces Bach wrote for the organ. The opening of the prelude shows the influence of Dietrich Buxtehude with its free-flowing, improvisatory passages, and introduces a contrast between the brightness of the major key and the darker minor section which is full of dissonances. The second half of the prelude explores very simple themes – major scales and arpeggios – in lively counterpoint before the minor mood interrupts, concluding the prelude with a series of unexpected and extraordinarily dissonant chords. Whilst the prelude presents a battle between the happiness of the major and the turbulence of the minor which ultimately wins out, the fugue presents the antidote of sheer joy. Major scales again form the basis of the theme, but with a playful feeling sustained throughout the fugue. I’d like to think of this piece as a hopeful one for our time – we currently find ourselves in the final section of the prelude, full of uncertainty and misery, but we can hope for the joyous return to normality in the not-too-distant future. I am the Assistant Organist and Tutor to the Choristers at Magdalen College, Oxford, where I plays for services, broadcasts and tours with the choir of Magdalen College, and teach choristers, undergraduates and organ pupils. Before this I held organ scholarships at Westminster Cathedral and Christ Church, Oxford. As well as playing, conducting and teaching in Oxford, I have just finished a project to learn all of J S Bach’s organ works as part of the W T Best Scholarship from the Musicians’ Company. In 2018 I was also the recipient of the Flentrop Scholarship from the Eric Thompson Trust." -------------------------------------------------- Musicians' Company Profile - http://www.wcom.org.uk/yeoman/alexander-pott About our Musicians' Company awards - http://www.wcom.org.uk/awards/organists -------------------------------------------------- Join our weekly #MiddayMusic e-news at http://eepurl.com/dv0ccr #MiddayMusic is supported by generous donations from the public, along with funds from the Musicians' Company’s Prince’s Prize which received a generous endowment in 2015 from The Eranda Rothschild Foundation and Rothschilds Bank, in memory of Leopold de Rothschild, a Liveryman of the Musicians’ Company for over 50 years. Donate to support The Musicians' Company Young Artists - http://www.justgiving.com/musicianscompanyfund