The Purcell Quartet have not rushed to follow up their first volume of Couperin’s Les nations (5/03), and have released a few other things since, but continue here where they left off in thoughtfully setting this second pair of long ordres (or suites) for two violins and continuo among a few choice delicacies from elsewhere in the composer’s output. Thus, both L’impériale and La piémontoise are prefaced by a harpsichord prelude from L’art de toucher le clavecin, and there is a duo for two bass viols drawn from the Nouveaux concerts collection, played with exquisite gentle tread by Richard Boothby and Rebeka Rusó.

The Purcell Quartet are one of the longest established Baroque chamber groups, and their essential character has not changed much over the two decades and more they have been around. Theirs has always been a sweetly transparent sound, with the violins lightly spacious and the continuo-playing self-effacingly musical, and thus they differ markedly from recent fashions for richer string tone and a generally more high-energy approach. Naturally this has advantages and disadvanatges. Faster movements such as the “Légérement” of La piémontoise or the Bourrée of L’impériale come across with clarity and quickness in the Purcells’ hands, while gigues and menuets acquire a pleasingly subtle lilt; weightier numbers like the opening “sonatas” lack gravitas, however, and slow allemandes and sarabandes can even seem a little sleepy. It is all pleasant enough on the whole, but some may find rival versions a touch more engaging.