![Damian Thompson](https://www.spectator.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Damian_T.png?w=176)
God’s messenger
When the Japanese conductor Masaaki Suzuki leads his forces in a performance of a Bach cantata, does he worry that the non-Christians in his audience will face the fires of Hell? That seems a bizarre question to ask any conductor of Bach’s music, especially one from Japan, where only one per cent of the population
![](https://www.spectator.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/rexfeatures_998922h.jpg?w=440)