The 2nd book of these Symphoniae, written in the dark years of the devastating 30 Years War and published in 1647, stands among his central body of works and holds many affecting and beautiful moments. The British recording being reviewed here presents the 2nd book in its order of publication, which is not structured as a coherent work end-to-end work but rather is organized by range and number of soloists, indicating that each of the symphoniae is a single piece standing on its own. Book II starts with the symphoniae for solo voice, works its way down the vocal range from soprano to bass, then proceeds on to the duets and trios and concluding with a few more ambitious works for a full set of vocal soloists.

Charles Daniels enters into the exultant spirit of ‘Lobe den Herrn’, especially its exuberant final alleluia, and the three male voices bring an almost Italianate sweetness to ‘Jesu dulcis memoria’, one of several fine examples of Buxtehude’s fascination with the chaconne, as well as conveying all the darkness and pain of the richly-scored Passiontide meditation ‘An filius non est Dei’.

Setting various German and Latin texts for solo voices, violins and continuo, these sacred cantatas are typical products of the late 17th century in their pragmatic approach to form.
Here are patchworks such as Jesu dulcis memoria and Salve, Jesu, Patris gnate unigenite; chorale or song variations such as Jesu, meine Freude; and others, like Ich halte es dafür and Ich habe Lustabzuscheiden, which combine the two. CantateDomino is liltingly Italianate, Mein Herz ist bereit is an agile showpiece for solo bass, while Herr, wennich nur dich hab is a set of variations over a ground bass. The Purcell Quartet's essential string sound has always been sweet, airy and lucid, and it's interesting to hear how that has been transferred here from the instrumental sphere to the vocal.

This 2-CD set with The Purcell Quartet and a distinguished group of soloists is the third in a series devoted to Bach’s early cantatas and the second focussing on the Weimar period. On an earlier release, International Record Review wrote, ‘The Purcell Quartet and guests are most welcome: even the most distinguished of period performers with larger ensembles can’t achieve the intimacy that the forces here have at their disposal’.

When recording Bach's 199 sacred cantatas, various strategies have been employed to impose meaningful order on them. There's the "everything from BWV 1 to BWV 199" approach, the "everything in the church year" approach, and the less frequently employed "everything in chronological order" approach, adopted here by the Purcell Quartet. In this the second volume in the series, the four works come from Bach's Weimar period, specifically from 1714 and 1715: Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen, BWV 12 (Weeping, sighing, sorrowing, crying); Gleichwie der Regen und Schnee vom Himmel fällt, BWV 18 (For as the rain and snow fall down from heaven); Nun Komm, der Heiden Heiland, BWV 61 (Now come, the heathen's Savior); and Komm, du süsse Todesstunde, BWV 161 (Come, sweet hour of my death).

Lean and austere, yet deeply felt and profoundly spiritual, the first volume in Chandos' series of recordings of Bach's early Cantatas is a complete success. With one player and one singer per part, these are chamber music-scaled performances: it is quite lean and very austere. But that's fine: the musicians are all superb and the music benefits from their individual attention. Indeed, it gains immensely in intensity when a single musician is responsible for each part. Better yet, the music gains enormously in lyricism when those musicians are of the caliber performing here. The Purcell Quartet is arguably the best Baroque chamber ensemble in England and it is augmented here with equally fine additional players.