The sublime lullaby ‘Schlummert ein’, surely the most searching and sensuous meditation on the favourite Pietist metaphor of death-as-sleep, has long made Ich habe genug, No 82, one of Bach’s most popular cantatas. By my reckoning it is also the most recorded, with performances embracing virtually every voice type (Bach left versions for bass, soprano and alto) and stylistic perspective. With refined phrasing and a sweet, flutey upper register reminiscent of Alfred Deller, the French countertenor Damien Guillon has rightly made his reputation as a Bachian. Yet I found something wanting in his performances of both No 82 and the comparably moving No 169 for alto and obbligato organ.

Among countertenors to have tackled Ich habe genug, both Andreas Scholl (Decca, 4/12) and Iestyn Davies (Hyperion, 1/17) bring more colouristic range (including more resonant low notes) and a deeper engagement with the text. Taken dangerously slowly, at what sounds like eight beats to the bar (an impression enhanced by the even stressing of the bass line), ‘Schlummert ein’ is smoothly, affectingly sung by Guillon. Yet there is minimal variety of expression and dynamics. I sense no change of tone, for instance, between the slumbrous refrain and what should be the more urgently incisive episodes.

A largely unshaped bass line also compromises the two arias with organ in No 169. Guillon, singing with greater expressive intensity than in No 82, and organist Maude Gratton combine eloquently in the bittersweet ‘Stirb in mir’. Yet with monotonous stressing of the recurrent two-note bass figure, the rhythms trudge, devoid of the siciliano lilt caught by Gardiner in his recording with Natalie Stutzmann (SDG, 11/09). Gratton’s understanding of Bachian rhetoric and ear-catching choice of registrations make for enjoyable listening in three chorale preludes and the A minor Prelude and Fugue, with a piquant (if initially unnerving) clash of tuning between fundamental and mutation stop in BWV662.

The Trinity season in the Lutheran calendar is traditionally a time of dire admonitions and general penitential gloom. Bach, though, livened things up in the dancing opening choruses of three relatively little-known cantatas, Nos 17, 33 and 99, included on a new disc from the Thomanerchor, recorded in the ultra resonant acoustic of Leipzig’s Lutherkirche. Topped by a fresh-toned treble line, the choir of Bach’s own church are in fine shape under Thomaskantor Gotthold Schwarz, and the Sächsische Barockorchester play with style and gusto. It was criminal of Accentus not to name the superb flautist in No 99’s frolicking obbligatos.

When Bach is in extrovert Brandenburg mode (concerto influence is rife throughout these cantatas), the vigour and directness of these performances are often exhilarating. Reservations creep in with some less-than-distinctive solo singing, reinforced by comparisons with recordings from Gardiner (SDG) and Suzuki (BIS). In the faltering, sin-drenched alto aria in No 33, countertenor Stefan Kahle sounds pallid alongside Suzuki’s Robin Blaze and Gardiner’s grave-toned Natalie Stutzmann; and the pleasant but ‘churchy’ tenor Wolfram Lattke is no match for Gardiner’s James Gilchrist in either lyrical warmth or dramatic intensity. Schwarz, dubiously, opts for massed trebles in the aria ‘Herr, deine Güte reicht so weit’ in No 17, a lively triple concerto for two violins and soprano. The Thomanerchor boys cope well enough, though inevitably the effect is slightly depersonalising. This new recording has its obvious attractions. But in all three cantatas, I’d still choose the colour and rhetorical subtlety of Gardiner and his responsive forces, seasoned Bachians all.