A new live recording of Bach’s St Matthew Passion (Matthäuspassion BWV 244), recorded in Pisa Cathedral during the Anima Mundi Festival as part of the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra’s 2016 tour.
As well as the full sung texts, the booklet includes both a programme note by Sir John Eliot Gardiner as well as his tour notes: Written both before and during their 6-month international tour – which began in Valencia in March and concluded with this performance in Pisa on 22 September – these include diary entries and notes given during rehearsals or sent in the aftermath of concerts to the performers (who were performing from memory).
All notes and texts are included in English, German and French translations.

Sony Classical is proud to announce the release of Yo-Yo Ma's new album Six Evolutions Bach Cello Suites, his third and final recording of these works. Bach and his Cellos Suites entered Yo-Yo Ma s life when he was four, when he learned the first measure of the Prélude to Suite No. 1 under his father s instruction. Ma has never lost his initial fascination. "Bach's Cello Suites have been my constant musical companions," Ma writes of the music. "For almost six decades, they have given me sustenance, comfort and joy during times of stress, celebration and loss. What power does this music possess that even today, after three hundred years, it continues to help us navigate through troubled times?" Ma is more convinced than ever of the suites ability to create shared meaning that extends far beyond the here and now. The suites collective vision at once divergent and coherent, empathic and objective reminds us of all that connects us despite an increasingly discordant public conversation. The August release of Six Evolutions also signals the beginning of a two-year, six-continent journey in which Yo-Yo Ma will devote himself to Bach s music, playing all six Cello Suites in a single setting in familiar and unlikely locations. Six Evolutions Bach: Cello Suites will not only offer an essential encapsulation of what this music means now to one of the world's most celebrated artists, it begins a new chapter in the cellist's 58-year relationship with this music.

Zhu Xiao-Mei is a Chinese classical pianist and teacher, now based in Paris, France.