Bach’s Mass in B Minor highlights how the great composer wove a ‘potent, steadfast faith' into his music

The "K" of the first Kyrie shot straight down the middle of Yale University’s impressive Woolsey Hall like a burning arrow; a foretaste of the drama to come.

At the end of last month the Yale Schola Cantorum was joined by the New York-based period instrument ensemble called Julliard415 for a performance of the Mass in B Minor – one of the jewels in Johann Sebastian Bach's dazzling crown.

The Mass shows the mature Bach at the height of his powers. Even by Bach’s standards it is a work of sensational variety and contrast, heightened by the apposition of bright D major and solemn B minor. The counterpoint is on the grandest of scales.