Better than this it rarely gets: A room full of people, seven with instruments--a motley assortment, and a dozen or so singers, also fairly motley, gathered for an annual reading of Bach Cantata #4, Christ lag in Todesbanden and of Purcell's Funeral Music for Queen Mary--two of the greatest works of choral literature with instruments.

What made it wonderful was the agreement of intention of everyone in the room. No trace of snobbery or pretension (some people in the past had complained that it wasn't professional enough for their standards). This music is all about meaning and it is conveyed directly in the music itself, even without the text.

What was the conversation about afterward? Listening. And, no, I was not even in the room as that topic arose and was being explored.