Among the seminal recordings of pre-Bach German vocal music from Musica Antiqua Köln in the mid-1980s was a disc also entitled “De Profundis” (Archiv, 7/86), championing a little-known repertoire from the second half of the 17th century notable for its rich expressive and contemplative power.

On reflection – and underlined in these finely chiselled performances of sacred concertos for bass voice – this is, on balance, a corpus of music ranging from the quietly efficient to the occasionally inspired. One can be easily hoodwinked by the luxuriance of the textural canvas but the material in the Bruhns and Tunder works is, in truth, inconsistently engaging, despite Stephan MacLeod’s focused readings.

Yet the moment we reach Buxtehude and the finest Bach pre-JSB, Johann Christoph, the stakes are raised, with a level of musical characterisation that glows from within the texts: a creative gift which lifts MacLeod’s resonant voice onto a new plain of rhetorical sensibility and emotional thrust. If there is just a slight tendency to overplay messa di voce to a point of mild distraction in the Tunder pieces, the Bach lament, Wie bist du denn, O Gott, is performed with an unerring dramatic grasp, as the ensemble closes ranks with rapt intensity.

If the original “De Profundis” from Reinhard Goebel’s MAK portrayed music of universally greater interest – including a marvellous cantata by Weckmann – MacLeod’s voice is as imbued in this music (his own group Gli Angeli Genève have recently released a German Cantatas disc for Sony – 11/08) as the Ricercar Consort, whose seasoned offerings on Mirare over the years are always exquisitely rendered. Becker’s fine instrumental interludes encapsulate their particular identification with this hightestosterone fare.