John Harbison: “Bach was an eclectic”

John Harbison comes from a musical family. They saw him improvising on the piano at a precocious age and starting a jazz band at 12. He has never lost either the taste for improvisation or his first love for Bach. We meet in the morning in one of those lovely guesthouses in the German countryside. This is where John Harbison, composer-in-residence at the 2009 Moritzburg Festival, and the young musicians who take part in the concerts, are hosted. Several instruments can be heard during our conver