| Summary: | In 2017, the grandeur of Bach's monumental Mass in B Minor resounded once again inside the walls of the Thomaskirche (St. Thomas Church) in Leipzig--the church that holds Bach's tomb, and the one in which he served as music director for nearly three decades until his death in 1750. Herbert Blomstedt--an institution himself in the grand tradition of 20th- and 21st-century conducting--leads this masterpiece of sacred music in a staggering interpretation that gains gravitas and power through Blomstedt's years of experience. Bach's B Minor Mass has long been studied and admired for its structure and cohesiveness, although it includes material from previously composed works. It can be viewed as a musical testament to Bach's melodic, polyphonic, and rhetorical genius, all united in a single supreme work. For Blomstedt, Bach has always been an essential figure: "I would give everything to meet Bach, " he muses. "Maybe that will be possible someday--we both believe in the resurrection, but it might be a while until then ... "
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