Zelenka’s Missa Omnium sanctorum dates from 1741. His last choral work, it was the third in a projected, albeit unfinished cycle of six final Masses, the Sex Missae ultimae, intended, it would seem, both as an expression of personal devotion and as a testamentary summary of his liturgical style. It is indeed a remarkable score, in some respects, though it also takes its time to find its feet. The Kyrie and Gloria, with their formal divisions into choral passages and virtuoso arias, lack the inspirational freshness of the remaining movements, and Zelenka only comes into his own in the through-composed Credo, effectively in rondo form, which brings with it both a sudden, heightened sense of drama and a series of fleeting yet intricate duets for the soloists. Zelenka’s much-discussed chromaticism comes to the fore at the awed start of the Sanctus, while the Agnus Dei, dominated by the Mass’s principal bass solo, is a triple-time pastoral chaconne that seems to unwind slowly into eternity.

The complexity of Zelenka’s counterpoint and the angular contours of some of the choral lines make it difficult to perform successfully, though its challenges are admirably met here by the singers and players of laBarocca under Ruben Jais. The choral singing is superbly accomplished in its balance, dexterity and poise: the big fugues, clean and clear, have plenty of élan; there’s real nobility and grandeur at the climax of the Credo; and the hushed Benedictus, in which the polyphony subsides into a hovering unison surrounded by a halo of string figurations, is exquisite in its luminosity. Jais finely judges the work’s oscillations between ceremony, drama and reflection, while the playing blends energy with great refinement.

The soloists, however, are perhaps less than ideally matched. The tenor Cyril Auvity does wonders with the exacting ‘Christe eleison’ and shines with his flourishes in the Gloria and Credo, while the bass, Lukas Zeman, is wonderfully fervent in the Agnus Dei. But the soprano Carlotta Colombo sounds curiously disengaged throughout and there are a couple of slips in intonation in her ‘Qui tollis’, while the ‘Quoniam’ lies high for the countertenor Filippo Mineccia, placing his upper registers under strain, though there’s no denying the beauty of his tone lower down.