The Portuguese-Brazilian composer Marcos António Portugal (1762–1830) was well in his own time for his fifty or so operas, but he has now been entirely forgotten. As well as that huge number of operas, he also composed a huge body of more than 160 religious choral works.

The two works here – in their first performances in modern times – illustrate his conservative Classical style as well as revealing the operatic influences on his sacred music.

The absence of female voices from the chorus and violins from the orchestra bring an unexpectedly dark colour.

The Ensemble Turicum was founded in 1992 by the Brazilian singer Luiz Alves da Silva and Swiss violinist Mathias Weibel. Comprising both singers and instrumentalists, it works on the basis of historical performance practice and therefore plays with original instruments. Its special area of interest is the music of the Iberian peninsula and of South America, Brazil in particular.