Ten years ago I asked Seattle composer Ken Benshoof to recommend a good book on counterpoint. Instead, he advised me to look at and listen to J. S. Bach's Two-Part Inventions and Three-Part Sinfonias, a collection of 30 short (most under two minutes) gems of melodic polyphony. I fell in love with the whole set, particularly the wistful "Sinfonia No. 14 in B-flat major" and the chiming, coy dance figurations capering through the "Invention No. 6 in E major"; both pack enough thematic material to plump up a full-size symphony. I also adore the "Sinfonia No. 2 in C minor," whose bird-like trills adorn a tender lullaby.

In his preamble to the 1723 manuscript of the Inventions, Bach humbly describes the work as an "honest guide, in which lovers of the keyboard, and particularly those desirous of learning to play, are shown in a clear way to not only play cleanly in two parts... but most of all to learn a singing style of playing, and to acquire a taste for the elements of composition."

Like the Études of Chopin, Debussy, and Ligeti, the Inventions and Sinfonias embody fundamental principles of music without being dry or stuffy. Yet musicians tend to perform them in bits and pieces, proffering an Invention or two as an encore or a stray Sinfonia as program filler.

Pianist Craig Sheppard looks forward to playing the entire set in a single concert. "First of all," says Sheppard "it's something I should have done as a kid. Too many piano students graduate to the Preludes and Fugues without really exploring the Inventions and Sinfonias, which are the basis of everything Bach has done. These are fantastic little pieces that really give you something to digest."