Francesc Valls (1671‑1747) was choirmaster at the cathedral in his native Barcelona for much of his career. Joan Grimalt, the director of Barcelona-based ensemble Exaudi Nos, is obviously a fan of the obscure Spanish Baroque master, and writes “there is a shocking disproportion between the quality of his music and the attention paid to it”. From the first few moments of Confitebor tibi, it is evident that Valls’s music is a strange mixture of older Italianate declamatory style (perhaps Carissimi or very early Monteverdi) and a mild Iberian flavour. This music is by no means bad or incompetent, and these intimately scaled performances are fulsome without crossing the line into forced garishness (though the prominent sopranos sometimes push close to it). The solo vocal contributions are not particularly distinguished but the texts of each Mass and psalm-setting are delivered with good judgement, and the group are skilled at allowing polyphonic details to emerge unhindered. An eclectic musician who combines his interest in Baroque music with scholarly musicological work on Mahler, Grimalt directs neatly contoured singing. This survey is admirable crusading work. Those who might expect this to restore the reputation of a hitherto unrecognised genius will probably be disappointed but anyone curious to know what was going on in early-18th-century Spanish music will find this interesting to hear at least once.