Hänssler CLASSIC is proud to present Helmuth Rilling 's landmark recording of the Secular Cantatas in a new collector's edition. Rilling was the first conductor to ever record the complete Bach cantatas and still, 25 years after they were first released in celebration of the Bach tercentennial in 1985, they remain the standard by which all other interpretations are judged. This box set includes timeless performances featuring many of Europe's finest singers at the height of their careers.

Helmuth Rilling, born in 1933 in Stuttgart, is acclaimed worldwide as a conductor, pedagogue, and Bach scholar. In 1954, he founded the internationally recognised Gächinger Kantorei choir, which joined forces with the Bach-Collegium Stuttgart as its regular orchestral partner eleven years later. It was at this time that Helmuth Rilling began his intensive work with the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. He has both fervently advocated neglected choral music of the Romantic period and promoted contemporary music by regularly commissioning and performing pieces by key composers of our time. He has toured across Europe, the United States, Canada, Asia and South America, either as guest conductor or with his own ensembles. Maestro Rilling has collaborated with the world's first-class orchestras, including the Vienna Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic and Japanese NHK-Symphony Orchestra.