These discs are in various ways revelatory. Schutz's collection is difficult to get through in one sitting but then it is only the luxury of recordings that enables us to do this, of course, and one can hardly complain at having so much music of such quality accessible. Each item in the collection is a jewel albeit not ostentatiously displayed. This is church music on a small scale in terms of physical resources, but of enormous invention and beauty.
Sometimes I feel that the Purcell Quartet does not push the music along quite enough: there are moments when the onus is simply placed by the composer on the inner resource of the instrumental sound and this is let slip on occasion. I suspect that this has, in the past, been one of the reasons for Schutz's relative neglect on the part of performers. In general, however, the instrumentalists respond with enthusiasm and great understanding of the style of these rather recondite works. It takes considerable sensitivity to bring out the rich textures of Meine Seele erhebt den Herren or Der Herr ist meine Starke without enjoying such moments at the expense of the vocal soloist. The relatively well-known bass solo Herr, nun lassest du deinen Diener is another example of a perfect match between voice and instruments.
The soloists themselves vary considerably in their approach to the music. Hearing Emma Kirkby immediately after Suzie Le Blanc is an instructive experience: while the former brings all her customary charm and precision to her two solo arias, for example, it was to Suzie Le Blanc's warmer readings of Mein Herz ist bereit and Singet dem Herrn that I returned. Both tenors are in their element, if sometimes a little understated, and Stephen Varcoe and Richard Wistreich really understand and communicate the glowing black and gold colours of Schutz's writing for the bass voice. Particularly splendid are Richard Wistreich's Herr, nun lassest du deinen Diener and the duets Herr, neige deine Himmel and Von Aufgang der Sonnen. The duets are what really make this set such an impressive achievement: the marvellous changing and interweaving of vocal colour in Verleih uns Frieden and Gib unsern Fursten, both for two sopranos, is a good example, and the pieces for two tenors and two basses are equally sensitively rendered.
Schutz's debt to Monteverdi is very much evident in Der Herr ist mein Licht for two tenors and even more so in Es steh Gott auf, for the same scoring, which in fact borrows from the latter's Armato il cor and Zefiro torna, but Schutz's natural reluctance to ''deck out my work with foreign plumage'', to which Peter Holman draws attention in his notes, means that his own voice as a composer is always in evidence. It is difficult to be precise about this especially when the second volume of Symphoniae sacrae does undeniably show such a strong Italian influence as compared with its predecessor. Yet there is a feeling of humility and awe in much of this music deriving, I would argue, from Schutz's grounding in liturgical polyphony, which is utterly different from the exuberance of much Monteverdi. A good example is the sublime Von Aufgang der Sonnen for two basses: it simply could not be by Monteverdi even were it set to an Italian text. This reconciliation of Italian stile concertato with Schutz's northern reticence is certainly one of the challenges in performing his music, and one to which this recording rises magnificently. A splendid issue.'