Superstar alto Andreas Scholl grew up in Kiedrich, Germany, which has a 650-year-old tradition of Gregorian chant sung in the village church (he sang in the boys' choir); here he performs J.S. Bach's three cantatas for solo alto, while the cantatas for solo bass are sung by Peter Kooy. A third disc is devoted to music by Bach's predecessors and contemporaries, including Johann Kuhnau, Nicolaus Bruhns, Christoph Graupner, and Franz Tunder. A music scholar and one of the world's foremost conductors of baroque repertoire, Philippe Herreweghe leads the ensembles La Chapelle Royale and Collegium Vocale Ghent on these highly satisfying recordings.

"Scholl's singing has the assurance and sensitivity that mark him as one of the finest countertenors now before the public."—Fanfare