Philippe Herreweghe’s thoughtful series of Bach cantatas – which now extends over 20 years – is conceived as a celebration of Bach’s compositional response to a particular festival or theme. Neither completist ambitions nor a planned cycle have inspired performances, which in recent times have ranged from the illuminating to the decidedly under-characterised.

“Jesu, deine Passion” represents one of Collegium Vocale Gent’s most outstanding Bach projects for quite a while. Not least the power of the Quinquagesima (the start of the fasting before Easter) message – the preparation and prescience for all things “Passion” – gathers Herreweghe into a contemplative world in which he feels most responsive.

The four works here are all masterpieces (sure, BWV22 was probably composed in a hurry as a pre-Sermon accompaniment to BWV23 as the dual audition pieces for Leipzig), rich in imagery and beguiling in the pure intricacy and invention of Bach’s emotional world. Where does one begin? Du wahrer Gott is, at last, establishing itself as one of Bach’s most profoundly crafted creations; that Sigiswald Kuijken (Accent, 8/08) can present a deliberate, heavy-laden austerity with such conviction and success while Herreweghe asserts his luminous a cappella principles with an almost galant turn – and with an equal measure of potency – speaks volumes for Bach.

Elsewhere we hear Peter Kooy, mostly in good voice, and far more dramatically involved than in recent Masaaki Suzuki releases. Es ist vollbracht from BWV159 is a restrained affair compared to Gardiner (with Peter Harvey’s extraordinary, beseeching and open-hearted rendering – SDG, 5/06) but effective nonetheless, especially with the exquisite oboe-playing of Marcel Ponseele. This aria would grace the St Matthew Passion with its Picander-esque sensibility (not least the setting of the words “Welt, gute Nacht!”, redolent of “Mache dich”).

This is, above all, a highly atmospheric programme, often overwhelming in content. Herr Jesu Christ, wahr’ Mensch und Gott (BWV127) is another corker: the opening chorus sublime in its incandescent contrapuntal mastery and then the main aria, “Die Seele ruht”, whose funeral bells (through recorders and pizzicato) are beautifully portrayed in Dorothee Mield’s brittle but awestruck delivery.