Gardiner's performance of Ach Gott, wie manchesHerzeleid bends the ear towards the power of doleful dissonance, as the opening chorus wends its way through the 'narrow path of sorrow' with all the emblematic trappings of the operatic chaconne. Equally compelling is the taut, cathartic duet 'Wenn Sorgen', where Joanne Lunn and Richard Wyn Roberts chase each other in canonic bliss – in what Gardiner describes as Bach's 'Singin' in the Rain'.
Indeed, it is the naturalness of the solo singing that marks out this latest volume. Not always smoothed out or glamorous, the response is always fresh, engaged and alive to text. Roberts proclaims his consoling chorale in Meine Seufzer with a fervour encapsulated in the opening aria by the passionate angst of Julian Podger's exhortation and – if it seemed possible – yet greater despair from the slightly uneven but characterful Gerald Finley in 'Ächzen und erbärmlich Weinen'.
William Towers brings a telling control and declamation to the fine opening aria of Jesusschläft. Gardiner rightly asserts that few places reveal the operatic Bach more triumphantly than the peerlessly graphic aria 'Die schäumenden Wellen' – especially in the slightly more forgiving space of Romsey Abbey, allowing Paul Agnew to let rip brilliantly. Bach is not just profoundly arrested by the raging sea but also by the implications of faith following Jesus's calming miracle in Peter Harvey's authoritative 'Vox Christi' scena. The bonus of the great motet Jesu, meine Freude, performed with customary vividness if not polish by the Monteverdi Choir, completes another memorable addition to the series.

Gardiner's performance of Ach Gott, wie manches Herzeleid bends the ear towards the power of doleful dissonance, as the opening chorus wends it way through the 'narrow path of sorrow' with all the emblematic trappings of the operatic chaconne. Equally compelling is the taut, cathartic duet 'Wenn Sorgen', where Joanna Lunn and Richard Wyn Roberts chase each other in canonic bliss - in what Gardiner describes as Bach's Singin' in the Rain. The bonus of the great motet Jesu, meine Freude, performed with customary vividness if not polish by the Monteverdi Choir, completes another memorable addition to the series.