Four years have passed since the last Virgin Classics recital disc by the American counter-tenor David Daniels. That’s a long time, for nothing stands still in the counter-tenor world. New voices become the rage, such as the flying Frenchman Philippe Jaroussky. New repertoire is conquered, whether prised out of dusty archives or commissioned from contemporary composers eager to explore the voice register’s unique timbre. By returning with a CD offering nothing but sacred Bach, one aria after the other, Daniels risks being considered staid.

Staid, but at least beautiful. What other voice could glide so prayerfully, so cleanly, in the Agnus Dei from the B Minor Mass? As for the lengthy sleep aria from Ich habe genug (a cantata usually assigned to the bass voice), Daniels is the lullaby king, soft and gracious to a nicety.

In a second extract from Ich habe genug, note the sudden radiance polishing the word hoffen (hope). Or the quiverings of pain as the consonants break in Von den Stricken (from the St John Passion); or the peace that radiates from those sheep safely grazing in Cantata No 208. Daniels’s vocal effects, small in size, are always immaculate, perfectly blended into their surroundings.

Heavenly stuff, in its way, especially considered moment by moment. The trouble lies more in the singing’s cumulative effect, and the dawning of the CD’s biggest vice: lack of variety. Though Bach can be a majestic musical dramatist, the gear-changes in Daniels’s pick of arias from the Mass, the two Passions and three cantatas are relatively small – subtle gradations of faith, hope and charity. What’s more, there are no chorales or choruses, Bach’s music of the people, to offer a different vocal perspective.

Nothing jolting happens either among the players of the English Concert, who are encouraged by their new director Harry Bicket to swathe the notes with an uncommon degree of legato. Even when solo instruments (oboe d’amore, recorders, viola da gamba) are supposed to be spicing the textures, the music-making stays bedded in velvet.

Beautiful musicianship is displayed throughout. But the end product remains frustrating: a Bach CD that feels overly lofty and precious, drained of too much blood.

Come down from the mountain, David; get your hands dirty.

(Virgin Classics, TMS £13.99, call 0845 6026328)

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