Raphaël Pichon and his ensemble Pygmalion mark their 20th anniversary with a new recording of Bach’s Mass in B minor, a work that has been central to the group’s repertoire. Having first performed the piece in 2013 and revisited it regularly since, Pichon now presents a recording shaped by over a decade of performance experience with a close-knit group of musicians. The vocal soloists are soprano Julie Roset, mezzo-soprano Beth Taylor, contralto Lucile Richardot, tenor Emiliano Gonzalez Toro, and bass-baritone Christian Immler. Pichon has a long-standing fascination with the work and its details. He notes that the Mass was written over the course of 25 years, beginning in 1724 as a simple Sanctus evolving to a full 27 movement Missa tota in 1749 – just a year before his death. “It’s the story of the whole of humanity in two hours of music” says Pichon.