The brief historic encounter of two very different men

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EVENING IN THE PALACE OF REASON: BACH MEETS FREDERICK THE

GREAT IN THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT

By James R. Gaines

Fourth Estate, $23.95, 336 pages

REVIEWED BY KELLY JANE TORRANCE

"A good way to break up any dinner party is to claim Bach's superiority to Mozart, but there it is," writes James

R. Gaines in his new book on the Baroque composer. "Spend any serious amount of time listening to Bach, and most of Mozart's work, however wantonly gorgeous, will seem to be . . . missing something."

That is a rather audacious claim. No one composer could be anointed the greatest, after all. There is too much competition -- add Beethoven to the mix -- each with his own special strengths. And while many of Mozart's best-known works are light, he can be deep, too. Just listen to his final masterwork, the Requiem.

That's not to say that Mr. Gaines does not have a point. There is something in Bach's music that isn't found in Mozart's, or any other composer's, for that matter. In his challenging new historical narrative, "Evening in the Palace of Reason: Bach Meets Frederick the Great in the Age of Enlightenment," the former editor of Time and People magazines argues that this is no accident. Bach's masterworks, he believes, are musical statements of the composer's deep faith.