SDG History

SDG was created in 2005 with the aim to release over 50 recordings made in 2000 during the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage. Shortly after the launch, its very first release won Record of the Year at the Gramophone Awards, and all subsequent releases have won international acclaim for the performances by John Eliot Gardiner and his Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists.

In the same year, at the behest of the Bach Archive in Leipzig, SDG released the first recording of a newly discovered piece by JS Bach, ‘Alles mit Gott’. In 2006 the label made headlines with a CD of two Mozart symphonies, recorded live during a concert at London’s Cadogan Hall and released at the end of the evening. Another special recording project, ‘Pilgrimage to Santiago’ followed an acclaimed concert tour along the route to Compostela and received as much praise as the concerts themselves.

Autumn 2007 saw the first recordings with the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, recorded at the Royal Festival Hall in London and the Salle Pleyel in Paris during the Brahms and his Antecedents concert cycle. Four Brahms Symphonies albums have now been released, with the last one in this series, Ein deutsches Requiem coming out in 2012.

2010 marked the completion of the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage releases. Since then, the label has issued several live recordings, including the St John Passion and music by Johann Christoph Bach in 2011.

In future years Soli Deo Gloria aims to remain the Monteverdi ensembles’ dedicated label, and it will continue to cover their adventurous projects in the tradition started with the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage, recording concerts live to capture as much of the atmosphere as possible for listeners to enjoy.