In this, the sixth volume of
John Eliot Gardiner's Bach cantata pilgrimage,
Gardiner, the
Monteverdi Choir, the
English Baroque Soloists, and soloists present three cantatas for the Twelfth Sunday after Trinity (recorded live in the Jakobskirche in Köthen on September 10, 2000) and three cantatas for the Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity (recorded a week later in the Dreikönigskirche in Frankfurt). As previously in this distinguished series,
Gardiner's approach is clearly devotional: no point goes unmade in these purposefully religious works. From the opening Lobe den Herrn, meine Seele, BWV 69a, with its festive opening movement to the closing Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, BWV 33, with its affecting final chorale harmonization, this disc is compelling and persuasive. In both locations, SDG's sound is startlingly clear yet amazingly atmospheric.