Sdg 13

This live 2008 performance of Brahms' Ein deutsches Requiem is John Eliot Gardiner's second recording of the piece, the first from 1991, and he uses the same performing forces, the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique. This second interpretation is part of his Brahms series, begun in 2008, which includes the four symphonies, for the label Soli Deo Gloria. The performance is approximately the same length as his earlier version and clocks in at less than 65 minutes, considerably shorter than the usual performance of the Requiem, making it one of the shortest recorded versions, in fact. Gardiner generates genuine excitement with his propulsive tempos in the faster sections.

A selection of Bach's secular smaller-scale choral and vocal works in the Suzuki BIS cantata cycle delights as much as the weightier ones have done.
Masaaki Suzuki is nearing the end of the excellent BIS cycle of all the Bach cantatas. Other complete current cycles of note are those by Ton Koopman on Challenge and John Eliot Gardiner on SDG. This is the only one on SACD although the disks can also be played in stereo on CD players and most computers. It's also a cycle using period instruments; Koopman's and Gardiner's do not.