This new series from The King's Consort will introduce us to innumerable musical riches from the time of JS Bach, starting with six works by Johann Kuhnau. Kuhnau was Bach's immediate predecessor at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig, and his name and music can rightly be said to be have slipped into relative obscurity only as a result of his successor's inordinate fame.

As it turns out we find music which is immediately impressive. The five German-texted works are direct precursors of Bach's Leipzig cantatas; Kuhnau is a master of the formal structures required in the medium, and employs varied orchestral colours and choral/solo textures to great effect. Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern includes some of the earliest orchestral writing for horn, while Ihr Himmel jubilirt is a triumphal Ascensiontide cantata replete with trumpets and timpani. Weicht ihr Sorgen is a solo cantata, here gloriously sung by Deborah York.

Tristis est anima mea is in a somewhat different vein; this Latin text receives ravishing treatment from Kuhnau as a single-movement motet for five-part choir and organ.