Domenico Mazzocchi was the elder of two composing brothers active in Rome in the first half of the seventeenth century. His output was not large, partly because, as a valued member of the household of Cardinal Aldobrandi, he enjoyed a comfortable lifestyle free from the vexations of the full-time professional musician, and partly because after about 1640 composing was replaced in his affections by the preparation of polemical pamphlets concerning the history of his home town. But he was a well-liked and respected man—one contemporary commended his ''natural modesty and gentleness of manner''—and his music, too, is congenial and full of charm. The works on this disc—all thought to date from the 1630s—divide into two categories, both of which yield music of considerable beauty. Expressive motets for solo voices and continuo make up the first group, while the second consists of Latin oratorios for soloists and chorus in which Biblical tales are presented in quasi-dramatic style, complete with narration and some role-playing for the soloists.
The oratorios are sung by the Netherlands Chamber Choir, a 19-strong group well able to supply the technically accomplished, musically intelligent solo voices required by this music. As a choir they can sound like a gathering of soloists at times, while the use of female altos gives the texture a softer centre than one is used to these days; but they certainly capture the flavour of the music, guided as they are by the direction—as strongly characterful and rhythmically defined as ever—of Rene Jacobs. The motet soloists are a separate group from the choir, and all are new voices to me. I especially enjoyed Maria Cristina Kiehr's sturdy (castrato-like?) soprano, but all sing with a sensitivity that contributes greatly to the qualities of this disc, one that has grown on me with every hearing.LK