Majesty, solemnity and brilliance: Volume 3 of a series dedicated to the works of Giovanni Battista Fasolo (1598-1664), a little-known friar and composer for the church from southern Italy.

Individual pieces by Fasolo have featured on a few compilations of sacred music from 17th-century Italy, but until now there has been no comprehensive survey of this overlooked but significant figure. Made at the cathedral of Verona in August 2024, this new 3-CD set of his organ masses is the most substantial set of his work ever issued. All the music here was published in 1645, but composed at least a decade earlier, from Fasolo’s period of service to various ducal chapels in Naples and Rome.

The three Mass settings follow the orthodox form of ‘organ masses’: each line of the text is sung in Gregorian chant, alternating with new and original instrumental elaborations of those lines on the organ. Thus the weight of musical ‘content’ falls heavily on the organ part, performed here with both exuberance and sensitivity by Federico del Sordo.

The 51 verses composed by Fasolo for this trio of organ Masses cover a spectrum of musical styles. They show how much Fasolo wished to break out of the idioms he had inherited from Renaissance composers such as Frescobaldi, and extend the syntax into Baroque territory. The Masses are complemented on each disc by Fasolo’s settings of motets and ancient hymns for the church such as the Te Deum and Pange lingua, all organised according to the same alternatim practice.

Alberto Turco and Federico del Sordo have won praise for two previous collections of Fasolo’s music on Brilliant Classics. Of their collection of Magnificats and a Salve Regina (95512), the critic in Fanfare wrote: ‘The keyboard playing by Federico del Sordo is capable and always lively... I like the brilliant registrations chosen for the organ, which give it considerable resonance. A fine disc, and one that should show that Fasolo was no slouch when exercising his craft.’