Forthcoming Releases


TWO NEW RELEASES DUE EARLY OCTOBER

Previous releases in both series have received phenomenal press coverage and tremendous reviews for performance, sound quality and packaging.


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SDG 171 Volume 12 (2 cds) contains:

SDG171 Cantatas for the Twenty-second Sunday after Trinity

BWV 55 - Ich armer Mensch, ich Sündenknecht
BWV 89 - Was soll ich aus dir machen, Ephraim?
BWV 115 - Mache dich, mein Geist, bereit
BWV 60 - O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort II

(recorded: All Saints, Tooting, London)

Soloists: Joanne Lunn | Robin Tyson
James Gilchrist | Peter Harvey

Cantatas for the Twenty-third Sunday after Trinity

BWV 139 - Wohl dem, der sich auf seinen Gott
BWV 163 - Nur jedem das Seine!
BWV 52 - Falsche Welt, dir trau ich nicht!
BWV 140 - Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme

(recorded: Winchester Cathedral)

Soloists: Gillian Keith | Susan Hamilton
Hilary Summers | William Kendall | Peter Harvey

The Monteverdi Choir | The English Baroque Soloists | John Eliot Gardiner


 Click here for a French Translation of the sleeve notes.

 Click here for a German Translation of the sleeve notes.

 Click here for the English sleeve notes.

SDG is delighted to release Volume 12 - Cantatas for the twenty-second and twenty-third Sundays after trinity.

John Eliot Gardiner, The Monteverdi Choir and The English Baroque Soloists performed both of these programmes in England: at All Saints church in Tooting and at Winchester Cathedral, in November 2000.

The soloists include James Gilchrist, Peter Harvey and Joanne Lunn.

The highlight of this album is Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme (“Sleepers, wake”) - one of Bach’s best known cantatas, and one that has long been part of the Monteverdi Choir’s repertoire. It is described as “a cantata without weaknesses, without a dull bar, technically, emotionally and spiritually of the highest order”.

Ich armer Mensch, ich Sündenknecht (“I, wretched man, I slave to sin”) is Bach’s only cantata for solo tenor still in existence. It is sung movingly by James Gilchrist.

Of three cantatas on the parable of the unjust steward (BWV 55, 89, 115), Mache dich, mein Geist, bereit (“Prepare yourself, my soul”) is considered to stand out for its subtle instrumental writing and spellbinding arias, which evoke the yearning of the soul for divine mercy.

The recording in Tooting (CD1) is the only one in the whole series that wasn’t recorded live: the original concert took place in Eton chapel, right under the Heathrow airport flight path, so we had to try and recreate the same conditions in a quieter place.

This album is packaged with a separate index sheet of the Cantata series.

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Click CDs to play soundbites.

SDG 174 Volume 18 (2 cds) contains:

SDG174 Cantatas for Christmas Day

BWV 63 - Christen, ätzet diesen Tag
BWV 191 - Gloria in excelsis Deo

(recorded: Herderkirche, Weimar)

Soloists: Claron McFadden | Bernarda Fink
Christopher Genz | Dietrich Henschel

Cantatas for the Feast of Epiphany

BWV 65 - Sie werden aus Saba alle kommen
BWV 123 - Liebster Immanuel, Herzog der Frommen

(recorded: Nikolaikirche, Leipzig)

Soloists: Magdalena Kožená | Sally Bruce-Payne
James Gilchrist | Peter Harvey

Cantatas for the First Sunday after Epiphany

BWV 154 - Mein liebster Jesus ist verloren
BWV 124 - Meinen Jesum lass ich nicht
BWV 32 - Liebster Jesu, mein Verlangen

(recorded: Hauptikirche St Jakobi, Hamburg)

Soloists: Claron McFadden | Michael Chance
James Gilchrist | Peter Harvey

The Monteverdi Choir | The English Baroque Soloists | John Eliot Gardiner


 Click here for a French Translation of the sleeve notes.

 Click here for a German Translation of the sleeve notes.

 Click here for the English sleeve notes.

SDG174 is the much awaited last volume of the Bach Cantatas Pilgrimage, one of the most talked about musical events of the last decade.

This is an anthology of the Christmas period, combining cantatas for Christmas Day and the Epiphany.

It features ten acclaimed soloists, including Magdalena Kožená, Bernarda Fink, Michael Chance, James Gilchrist and Christopher Genz.

The album opens with Christen, ätzet diesen Tag (“Christians, engrave this Day”), which was performed on Christmas Day 1999 to launch the year-long pilgrimage. This is one of Bach’s best known cantatas. The accompagnato recit was sung by Bernarda Fink to great acclaim.

Gloria in Excelsis Deo, the song of the angels at the birth of baby Jesus, is best known as the Gloria in the B Minor Mass.

Sie werden aus Saba alle kommen (“All they from Sheba shall come”) describes the procession of the three magi. Bach conveys the majesty of the scene by using high horns, and the recorders and oboes da caccia create an Eastern-like atmosphere.

The cantatas on this album display a great variety of dramatic expression. Both Mein Liebster Jesus ist verloren (“My dearest Jesus is lost”) and Liebster Jesu, mein Verlangen (“Beloved Jesus, my Desire”) tell the same story, but in a different style, expressing different emotions.

This album was recorded at Weimar’s Herderkirche, Leipzig’s Nikolaikirche and Hamburg’s Hauptikirche St Jakobi.

SDG174 is packaged with a separate index sheet of the Cantata series.

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