A beautiful, sometimes faintly bonkers celebration and contemplation of the role Bach’s music plays in the world today. Blending historical reconstruction with very loosely linked ‘dramatic’ scenes and documentary sequences, the film constitutes a playful, painterly sequence of variations on the argument that Johann Sebastian changed the way the world hears thanks to his extraordinary ear for harmony.

The famous Thomanerchor Leipzig - a traditional specialist in Bach's choral music - is joined by the superb Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and excellent soloists to perform one of Bach's most acclaimed pieces of religious choral music, the Mass in B Minor.

Recorded during a live performance 1998 December 12 Nikolaikirche, Leipzig.