Irrespective of the rights or wrongs of how many singers should be used in “historically informed” performances of Bach’s cantatas, these four early cantatas (all composed at Weimar, 1714‑15) are ideal for the one-voice-per-part method. All four singers here are experienced stylists at both consort and solo singing. The first chorus of Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen has finely phrased weeping, but in most other choruses one gets the sneaking feeling that this line-up should have recorded this repertoire 15 years ago. Michael Chance is still wonderfully intelligent and poetic but he sounds stretched in “Kreuz und Krone sind verbunden” (which features an eloquent solo by oboist Anthony Robson).

Gleichwie der Regen und Schnee is distinctively scored for four violas and continuo, with a superb sinfonia depicting falling raindrops; Emma Kirkby’s “Mein Seelenschatz ist Gottes Wort” has admirable precision and is brightly communicative (even if her timbre is harder than that of the others, and she often sticks out like a sore thumb in ensembles). The best singing comes from Charles Daniels; his rapturous and immaculately contoured “Komm, du süsse Todesstunde” is the highlight of No 161. In Baroque music with small forces, one of the hardest challenges is to get two fiddles to play in perfect unison: in the Advent cantata Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland Catherine Mackintosh and Catherine Weiss meet the challenge bravely and successfully, and the pizzicato string accompaniment in Peter Harvey’s recitative “Siehe, ich stehe vor der Tür” is delightful.

This is a well chosen programme, the sound recording is beautiful, and it is an effective advocacy of the one-per-part method. However, if the Purcell Quartet continue their series of Bach’s church music it may be good for them to pass the torch on to some younger singers.