Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists/John Eliot Gardiner Soli Dei Gloria SDG 162(2 CDs) ****

The survey of Bach's cantatas by the Orchestra of St Cecilia's Dublin has taken 10 years.

John Eliot Gardiner's millennial, Europe-wide Bach pilgrimage was just a year, but the release of the performances on CD is not yet complete. Vol 13, recorded in reverberant churches in Lüneberg (where Bach sang in the choir) and Cologne, includes six cantatas for the first and fourth Sundays of Advent, the best-known being No 147, Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben. Gardiner's responsiveness gets consistently under the surface of the music, whether it's in the cautionary agitation of the opening of No 70 or the fluid consolation of the closing chorale of No 147. There are magical moments from soprano Joanne Lunn and tenor Jan Kobow in these highly integrated performances. www.url.ie/4oxv