NEWS

WIRES

OTHER

Naxos of America Proud to Announce Distribution of Soli Deo Gloria

In January 2010, Naxos began distribution of SDG (Soli Deo Gloria), the not-for-profit record label founded in 2005 by the legendary British conductor Sir John Eliot Gardiner. Created for Sir John's three ensembles -- the Monteverdi Choir, the English Baroque Soloists, and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique -- the label takes its name from the initials Bach appended at the end of each of his Cantata scores, dedicating them to the "glory of God alone." Each SDG release includes authoritative liner notes and texts, and a cover portrait by the celebrated photographer Steve McCurry, the correspondent who is best known for the "Afghan girl" photo, which appeared on the cover of National Geographic.

On March 30, Naxos releases Volume 2 (SDG 165) of the label's ongoing, award-winning Bach Cantatas series. Volume 2 marks the halfway point of the Bach Cantata pilgrimage, and features Cantatas by J.S. Bach and Heinrich Schütz composed for the second and third Sundays after Trinity. Performances were taken from two concerts in July of 2000 in Paris and Zürich.

The Paris concert opens with a performance of Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein, BWV 2 (Oh God, look down from Heaven), based on Martin Luther's German hymn setting of Psalm 12. Other featured cantatas include: Meine Seel erhebt den Herren, BWV 10; Heinrich Schütz's motet, Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes, SWV 386 (The heavens are telling of God's glory); and Bach's cantata, Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes, BWV 76 (The heavens are telling of God's glory).

The Zurich concert features the two-part Weimar Cantata Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis, BWV 21 (I had much affliction), and Bach's Ach Herr, mich armen Sünder, BWV 135 (O, Lord, I poor sinner), which is based on the Passion chorale by Cyriacus Schneegass (1597). The concert concludes with Bach's Triple Concerto, BWV 1044 (Concerto for flute, violin and harpsichord).

The Bach Cantata Pilgrimage project began in Christmas of 1999, with the mission to "perform all Bach's surviving church cantatas on the appointed feast day and all within a single year." In total SDG will release 27 volumes, each corresponding to one of the Bach Pilgrimage's Concerts, and including the cantatas Bach wrote for a specific liturgical feast. It is the first time that the Bach cantatas will be issued on CD in this manner.