Virtuoso, meaning an extremely accomplished and masterful artist. It's a term that was no doubt used in 18th-century Germany when people referred to the never-seen title character of Itamar Moses' Bach at Leipzig, for Johann Sebastian's organ playing was in a class by iself -- as, of course, were his compositions. The word comes to mind while watching Michael Emerson, Reg Rogers, and Richard Easton as three of the eight organists (including Bach) who end up competing for the job of Kappelmeister (chief organist) in the German city. Each actor gives a brilliant lesson in comic acting.

But does the definition of virtuoso extend to the 28-year-old Moses? Without question, his intermittently [...]