A host of wonderful surprises are in store for the listener of the lesser-known mass in F major. Bach's giant mass in B minor overshadows all of his other Latin choral works, but we should not miss out on this one. Christian and Alex take a listener suggestion from Riley for this week's episode where we explore the pained pleading of the interweaving oboe and soprano in the movement "Qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis" (Who takes away the sin of the world, have mercy on us). We hear a powerful paragraph from Schweitzer's writing on the religiosity of Bach, even if we laugh a bit about how extravagant and inflated it is. 

As performed by the Netherlands Bach Society

Recording of Concerto in Bb major for bassoon and orchestra (K. 191): Arthur Grossman, bassoon; U.S. Seventh Army Symphony Orchestra, Ling Tung, conductor. Bordeaux, France, 1956; The Soni Ventorum Wind Quintet archive