Cupertinos, Luís Toscano: Garro: Missa O quam pulchra es & Cantate Domino CD

When musicians talk of ‘buried treasure’ they do not mean it literally – but it is apt and accurate here. The remarkable Portuguese polyphony unearthed by Cupertinos here was literally buried by the calamitous 1755 Lisbon earthquake.

This is a major new chapter in a pioneering multi-year exploration by Portuguese Renaissance group Cupertinos. Studies of King John IV’s 1649 music library suggests we have barely skimmed the surface of what was lost. For three decades the composer Francisco Garro presided over the prestigious Royal Chapel in Lisbon, publishing vital choirbooks from which the present Masses and motets have now been carefully reassembled.

Cupertinos won a 2019 Gramophone Award for an album of Cardoso; albums dedicated to Lobo, Cristo and Magalhães followed, but this latest is perhaps the most startling discovery to date.

Tracklist:
1. Parce mihi, Domine a 8
2. Responde mihi
3. Spiritus meus
4. Asperges me
5. Missa O quam pulchra es - 1: Kyrie
6. Missa O quam pulchra es - 2: Gloria
7. Missa O quam pulchra es - 3: Credo
8. Missa O quam pulchra es - 4: Sanctus & Benedictus
9. Missa O quam pulchra es - 5: Agnus Dei
10. In principio erat verbum
11. Missa Cantate Domino - 1: Kyrie
12. Missa Cantate Domino - 2: Gloria
13. Missa Cantate Domino - 3: Alleluia. Tanto tempore
14. Missa Cantate Domino - 4: Credo
15. Missa Cantate Domino - 5: Sanctus & Benedictus
16. Missa Cantate Domino - 6: Agnus Dei