A composition as brilliant as it is protean, the Mass in B minor occupied Bach until the end of his life. The earliest sections date back to 1724, others were written in 1733 in the hope of obtaining a post in Dresden. The work, which is more ecumenical than strictly Catholic, offers a digest of his art at it's expressive peak as a world in itself. Ren� Jacobs, Akademie f�r Alte Musik and RIAS Kammerchor were eager to revisit it, following their acclaimed interpretations of the two Passions and the Christmas Oratorio.