We know very little of Francesco Scarlatti, whose reputation has always been overshadowed by those of his elder brother Alessandro and his nephew Domenico. He was born in Palermo in 1666 and was active, primarily as a violinist, in Naples after Alessandro’s appointment as maestro di cappella to the court there in 1684, though in 1691 he returned to Palermo, where he seems to have been based for the next 25 or so years; in what capacity remains unclear. Attempts to establish himself in Vienna from 1715 proved unsuccessful and in 1719 he moved to London, and from there in 1733 to Dublin, where newspaper reports of the time tell us more about the breakdown of his second marriage than his musical life. He died in Ireland, probably in 1741, though again we don’t know for certain.

The two works recorded by Christopher Monks and the Armonico Consort reveal him, however, to have been a choral composer of some stature. They date from his Palermo period, the Mass from 1702, Dixit Dominus a year later. He brought both scores with him to England: the manuscripts, which form the basis of Geoffrey Webber’s edition used here, are housed in the Bodleian Library. The Mass is loftily ceremonial, Dixit Dominus more extrovert and florid, though Francesco’s methodology is similar in each. Both are scored for 16 voices (four four-part choirs), often singing fantastically intricate counterpoint. In place of solos, however, he offers closely woven trios or quartets for similar voice types, working downwards from sopranos to basses in the Mass’s Gloria, deploying them less formally in Dixit Dominus, though in both works the effect is strikingly novel. Solo violin and a piercingly high trumpet, meanwhile, provide obbligatos and dominate the instrumental textures.

As one might expect, the performances are strong, superbly shaped by Monks, and played and sung, one voice to a part, with great precision. The big, complex choruses sound exhilarating, though it’s the ensembles that often carry the greater emotional and devotional weight. The tenors bring bags of panache to the exacting coloratura of ‘Juravit Dominus’ in the Dixit Dominus, while the sopranos, paired antiphonally, do beautiful things with the Mass’s ‘Gratias agimus tibi’, arguably the work’s high point. Both trumpet (Peter Mankarious) and violin (Kelly McCusker) solos are terrific. The reverberant if atmospheric recording, made in a church in Gospel Oak, north London, compensates for some loss of detail with a real sense of voices entwining and overlapping exultantly in a large, resonant space. It’s most enjoyable and highly recommended.