Thanks to his only well-known piece, the eight-part Crucifixus, Antonio Lotti has a reputation as a Baroque conservative, fuddy-duddily turning out nothing but church music in old-fashioned, Palestrina-inspired counterpoint. Yet if there were such men in 18th-century Italy, Lotti – singer, organist and later maestro at St Mark’s in Venice, but also composer of around 20 operas – was not one of them. For proof one need only sample this impeccably 18th-century short Mass for soloists, choir and orchestra, a work which Bach and Handel made copies of, and which evidently left its mark on both of them.

Handel actually ‘borrowed’ two bits of it for oratorios, but further stylistic resemblances are plain to hear; listen, for instance, to the way the choral texture several times reduces to one line in the ‘Gloria in excelsis Deo’. As for Bach, it is hard to believe that the meandering choral chromaticisms and coaxing accompaniment of the ‘Qui tollis’ could not have been in his mind when he fashioned the ‘Crucifixus’ of the B minor Mass. These likenesses are pointed out in the booklet, but mention could also be made of Vivaldi, whom Lotti must have known personally; we do not who wrote first, but anyone familiar with the Vivaldi Gloria will spot similarities of approach in several movements. This is a fascinating find, and well performed by the pleasingly cohesive Balthasar-Neumann Ensemble, who successfully convey its mood of bright confidence.

The coupling is Bach’s Magnificat in its original E flat version, which differs from its better-known D major revision in several respects: the most significant are four irresistible extra move- ments for Christmas. Recordings are rare, though there is recent competition from Philippe Herreweghe. Of the two, Herreweghe’s is the more ‘traditional’ performance, with a polished chorus, fine soloists and brassy trumpets. Hengelbrock achieves greater intimacy, his trumpets reined in and his soloists drawn from within the small choir, and he is also more urgent, with faster tempi and violins really biting in the ‘Fecit potentiam’. Only personal preference will decide, but lovers of Baroque choral music will want Hengelbrock’s disc for the Lotti alone.