As distinct from the completist ambitions of recent times, selecting a single cantata for each Sunday and Feast Day of the liturgical year presents a novel approach to Bach recording. Sigiswald Kuijken and La Petite Bande will, all being well, reach the manageable 20-CD conclusion, with performances of works which can espouse the best values of textual declamation and a one-to-a-part chorus - as promoted by Kuijken in his extensive notes.

Vols 4 and 5 cover four Epiphany and Trinity weeks respectively, and Kuijken's selection of cantatas is revealing: the New Year was a time when Bach ensured that the demands made on singers, especially, were relatively relaxed after a prolific output of festive music employing intricate choral fantasias. Exploring modest pieces, such as BWV153 and 154, suits Kuijken's intimate and searching quest for a reflective atmosphere where considered gesture, honed sonority and textual clarity become special considerations in performance.

Indeed, the most successful examples, in both volumes, are where the singers and instrumentalists resonate collectively and the keenest ears generate something unexpected. Such is realised with endearing honesty in the unorthodox aria-cum-chorus “Lasst uns jauchzen” (BWV16) and in the beguilingly penitential “Liebster Gott, erbarme dich” (BWV179), one of Bach's finest soprano arias, where two oboi da caccia weave a spell of humility around Gerlinde Sämann's expressive pleading in the deep mire of sin. Not surprisingly, Bach rated this movement highly, redeploying it for the “Qui tollis” of his A major Mass.

Less satisfying are those movements where the corporate blend is let down by poor intonation and approximate pitching in the single-voiced chorus. There is, as recent recordings attest, not much room for error in this regard. There are some enjoyable vocal performances (such as the irresistible alto and tenor duet “Wohl mir, Jesus ist gefunden” in BWV154) but they are, frustratingly, more the exception than the rule. Vol 5 is generally the more gratifying of the two.

There are many noble ambitions in Kuijken's characterful, slightly austere but serious engagement with this music. Kuijken may not be the most natural poet among Bachians but he lets the music breathe unassumingly and doesn't play gratuitous games with it. One just hopes that in the next round of recordings he'll choose a few better singers and lift his vision onto another plane.