Vivaldi: In furore iustissimae irae, Laudate pueri & various orchestral works

The Purcell Quartet and their distinguished single-voice ‘chorus’ simply and refreshingly take as they find by relishing the intimate and heart-warming potential of reflective devotion which ‘Christ lag in Todesbanden’ and ‘Gottes Zeit’ (or Actus tragicus), the two best-known works here, offer. Throughout, the mixed group of singers and instrumentalists provide a lightness of touch where others might sink into despondent purplish textures. There is certainly less of the smouldering rhetoric of the rich palette of Continental ensembles and yet rarely has the stark trajectory from loneliness to hope been so intimately realised in ‘Christ lag’ – Bach’s first real masterpiece.

Gramophone