It’s long been known that Bach was the tip of an iceberg. His corner of Thuringia and roundabouts harboured a wealth of fine composers, many of whom have had to wait until the last 50 years to be unearthed. The works recorded here were among 300 that turned up in 1968, tucked away in a hollow space below the roof of the church of Grossfahner, a village 20km north-west of Erfurt. The cantatas here are by Johann Theodor Roemhildt, who was born in Salzungen in 1684 and died in Merseburg in 1756, and the splendidly monikered “Herr Troll”, about whom nothing else is known.

The Troll works are redolent of Buxtehude: a Christmas cantata celebrating the descent of the word incarnate in graceful descending phrases, and an Easter cantata that bears the date 1715. Both are written for a single bass soloist and – unusually for such modest vocal forces – a panoply of festive trumpets and timpani. Marco Grattarola’s rich, secure tone despatches the composer’s elegant melodies with considerable style supported by the lively textures of Italian ensemble I Contrappuntisti and their founder Marcello Trinchero.

Roemhildt,...