• SDG’s first mid-price release
• High-end packaging (Digipack)
• Great booklet notes and details of the Bach Cantatas Volumes from which the choruses are drawn.
• ‘Eternal fire’ is the perfect introduction to the glory and grandeur of Bach’s wonderful choral universe.
• An essential Christmas purchase for those not yet aware of the Bach Cantatas series and for lovers of classical music.
• Features a superb collection of the greatest choruses from the award-winning Bach Cantatas series, hand picked by world renowned conductor John Eliot Gardiner.
• On Christmas Day 1999 a unique celebration of the new millennium began in the Herderkirche in Weimar, Germany: the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists under the direction of Sir John Eliot Gardiner set out to perform all Johann Sebastian Bach’s surviving church cantatas in the course of the year 2000, the 250th anniversary of Bach’s death.
• The fourteen choruses heard here were recorded during the course of the Pilgrimage and each exhibit clearly Bach’s depth, originality and incomparable genius.
• Jonathan Freeman-Attwood in the booklet note describes each chorus as a masterpiece in its own right and that each displays “an almost unfathomable emotional range wedded to intellectual depth and layered with tireless invention, meaning and beauty.”

“Gardiner’s Monteverdi Choir is the jewel in the crown of each cantata performance. Add to that Gardiner’s dramatic, electric response to music he clearly loves and you have a set that rivals his Gramophone Record of the Year Award winning disc that launched this incredible series.” (James Jolly, Editor’s Choice, Gramophone)

“…benchmarks in the performance of Bach’s endlessly inventive choral music.” (Anna Picard, Independent on Sunday)

“Sir John Eliot Gardiner and his musicians deserve the undying gratitude of all lovers of Bach.” (Hugh Canning, Sunday Times)

“…Gardiner’s performances enliven and refresh Bach’s music at almost every turn. The Monteverdi Choir is on cracking form...” (Nicholas Anderson, BBC Music Magazine)