Mauro Borgioni (baritone) dedicates this CD to the composer Maurizio Cazzati (1616-1678). The focus is on solo motets for bass with concertante voices, for which he has enlisted the Ensemble Seicento Stravagante with organ, cornett and violin. The vocal works are complemented by instrumental sonatas by Cazzati.

Maurizio Cazzati is one of the most under-recognised Italian composers of the 17th century, although he was certainly one of the most prolific. He published 66 volumes of printed music - almost 2000 individual compositions across all genres of his time.

Cazzati worked at various courts and institutions in northern Italy, reaching his professional peak as maestro di cappella at San Petronio in Bologna and his last years in the service of the Gonzaga dukes in Mantua. His fate was probably to have been born a generation after the great innovator Claudio Monteverdi, whose style he consistently adopted and developed. From today's perspective, however, Monteverdi casts such a large shadow that an entire generation of outstanding composers is obscured by it.

Specialised in baroque repertoire, Mauro Borgioni's roles include Orfeo in L'Orfeo by Claudio Monteverdi; Ulisse in Il ritorno di Ulisse in patria by Claudio Monteverdi; Aeneas in Dido and Aeneas by H. Purcell, Acrimante in L'Empio punito by A. Melani; Haman in Esther and Polyphemus in Acis and Galatea by G.F. Handel.

His repertoire includes sacred baroque works like Monteverdi's Vespers and operas; St Matthew and St John Passions, Mass in B minor by J.S. Bach; Handel's Messiah and La Resurrezione; classical works like the Pauken- and Nelson-Messe by Haydn, Mozart Vesperae and masses.

He has participated in various festivals and concert seasons in Italy, Europe also in Mexico, Canada and USA, and has recorded for Pan Classics, Zig-Zag Territoires, Alpha, Brilliant Classics, Elucevanlestelle Records, Stradivarius, K617, Glossa, ORF, Arcana, Ricercar and for radio and television.