Album: John Eliot Gardiner Bach Cantatas Vol. 11 (Soli Deo Gloria)

SDG's series deriving from John Gardiner's epic 2000 pilgrimage around European churches performing Bach cantatas with the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists reaches Genoa and Greenwich on this latest CD set.

Thankfully, the Genoan concert took place despite Pope John Paul II's recent killjoy bull banning all church concerts, which would have denied us the delights of the wedding-themed "Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele", with its opening section featuring ingeniously interwoven oboes and recorders. Back in Greenwich, the occasion facilitated four pieces on which the soloists – particularly the alto William Towers – were outstanding.

DOWNLOAD THIS Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele; Ich glaube, lieber Herr