In this seventh volume, the 'big name' is perhaps BWV 78 Jesu, der du meine Seele but equal pleasure comes from rediscovering its counterparts, each lovingly moulded and shaped under Gardiner's attentive eye.

The performances on the two discs were recorded live and, as Gardiner is careful to point out, are very much a document of "what happened on the night".

If some polish is lost, if some bars are less sure than others, it really does not matter, for gained is an unusually noticeable sense of spontaneity, freshness and truth. Partly we must thank the CD mastering which, given the circumstances of recording, surpasses expectations in illuminating every line and creating an ideal balance between the English Baroque Soloists and Monteverdi Choir.

The orchestra is typically firm in all areas. When exploring vast, anguished sonorities as in the opening Chorus of BWV 25, low strings are prominent; violins surge from the texture before hurriedly retracting. Solo parts are equally fine, with the cello line in the aforementioned cantata's bass aria never allowing its presence to be forgotten; the flute obbligato in BWV 78's tenor aria shaped to perfection. Many have noted Gardiner's emphasising of dance rhythms throughout the cantata cycle, but this is a point that could be stretched too far. While certain passages are unusually danceable, these seem not to be the product of any specific intention to emphasise rhythms – rather, tempi are always as they need to be. The chirpy duet in BWV 78 is, to use Gardiner's own word, frivolous; the monumental battle fugue in BWV 19 fizzes along.

The Monteverdi Choir, meanwhile, brings gravity and meaning to every phrase of its music, relishing the Chorale harmonies; forcibly and clearly expressing the entwining complications of, say, BWV 25's chorus. Soloists are adequate but, given some of the names that have cropped up on the other cantata Volumes (Gerald Finley for one), it is hard not to feel a little disappointed. James Gilchrist's tenor is not great, and his harrowed recitative in BWV 25 is a little too unintentionally comic for my liking. And then there is the counter-tenor of Robin Tyson, whose voice is wonderfully warm but whose sense of pitching is approximate at best.

But Bach is still Bach – glorious, spiritual and uplifting. Even the "leprous skin" of BWV 25 can be easily accepted given the quality of both Bach's composition and Gardiner's interpretation. What is for sure is that this cantata cycle will survive as one of the century's musical milestones.

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