Johann Simon Mayr (1763-1845) was born seven years after Mozart, seven years before Beethoven and died shortly before Chopin. He lived his entire career in northern Italy, despite being born in Germany. It is unsurprising therefore that his music combines the rigour of German writing with the lyrical freedom of Italian themes, a superb blend that makes him rather unclassifiable. Until his appointment as chapel master of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Bergamo in 1802, he had only written operas and oratorios. Though from then on, his production would mainly concentrate on sacred music, masses, psalms, passions, laments and some six hundred works for liturgical use. This did not prevent him from continuing to write operas for a while, so before Rossini burst onto the scene, Mayr was the most performed opera composer in Italy. This album, the second volume in a series devoted to his motets, features the world premieres of a dozen of them, written from the beginning of the century up to the 1830s. There are Marian works in Latin whose very Mozartian and Italian language (Mayr was Donizetti's teacher!) will delight enthusiasts. This is a beautiful interpretation signed by Frank Hauk at the head of the Virtuosi Italiani with an excellent and impeccable set of singers. © SM/Qobuz