Alessandro Scarlatti: Missa ad usum cappellae pontificiae; Six Motets

For many of the last 250 years, Alessandro Scarlatti has been better known as the father of Domenico than as a composer himself. Yet he was a pioneer of Italian opera, helping to establish the da capo aria and the introductory sinfonia, and he also wrote extensively for the church.

Our rating

3

Published: January 20, 2012 at 2:39 pm

COMPOSERS: Alessandro Scarlatti
LABELS: Erato
WORKS: Missa ad usum cappellae pontificiae; Six Motets
PERFORMER: Ensemble Vocal de Lausanne/Michel Corboz
CATALOGUE NO: 0630-11229-2 ADD (1966)

For many of the last 250 years, Alessandro Scarlatti has been better known as the father of Domenico than as a composer himself. Yet he was a pioneer of Italian opera, helping to establish the da capo aria and the introductory sinfonia, and he also wrote extensively for the church.

This CD’s six unaccompanied motets are relatively conservative in style, while the a cappella Mass for Four Voices, written in strict stile antico, deliberately harks back to Palestrina’s more austere polyphony. The 1966 recording lacks clarity and the documentation is disgracefully scant, with neither Latin texts nor English translations provided. Graham Lock

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