In this recording of Bach’s Suite No. 1, John Eliot Gardiner follows Passepieds I and II with Bach’s own setting of the chorale Dir, dir, Jehova, will ich singen BWV 299. The joyous text celebrates praise and discipleship, prolonging the suite’s exuberant mood. No other recorded version features a vocal tailpiece, but if you don’t like it, simply program your player to skip track 8. It’s good to find both parts of the Overtures to these works repeated (Frans Brüggen omits second-section repeats), but at times Gardiner can seem too rugged and unyielding for what is, after all, ceremonial or occasional music.

JOHN ELIOT GARDINER und ein junges Sängerensemble bezaubern den Hörer: Christiane Oelze ist eine betörend sympatische Pamina. So gestochen scharfe und dabei klangvolle Koloraturen wie von Cyndia Sieden habe ich so noch nicht gehört; eine Königin der Extraklasse! Auch Michael Schade als Tamino und Gerald Finley als Papageno bestechen mit ihren wohlkingenden und ausdrucksfähigen Stimmen.

Samuel Scheidt was one of the most interesting Lutheran composers of the early 17th century. Like his famous contemporary Heinrich Schütz, he combined the polyphonic tradition with the new styles from Italy. His Cantiones Sacrae for eight voices mark the summit of Renaissance musical style; even though Protestant chorales are integrated into the work, Scheidt does not hesitate to use expressive effects that originated in the Italian madrigal style.