WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756-1791)

Mass in C minor, K 427

[1] Kyrie

[2] Gloria in excelsis Deo

[3] Laudamus Te

[4] Gratias agimus

[5] Domine Deus

[6] Qui tollis

[7] Quoniam tu solus

[8] Jesu Christe

[9] Cum Sanctu Spiritu

[10] Credo in unum Deum

[11] Et incarnatus est

[12] Sanctus

[13] Benedictus

 

JOSEPH HAYDN (1732-1819)

[14] Berenice, che fai? (Scena di Berenice), Hob XXIVa:10

 

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770-1827)

[15] Ah perfido!, op. 65

 

Camilla Tilling, Sarah Connolly, Timothy Robinson, Neal Davies

 

Gabrieli Consort & Players

Paul Mccreesh

 

After their hugely successful reading of Gluck’s neglected opera Paride ed Elena, Paul McCreesh and his Gabrieli Consort & Players again turn their attention to sacred choral music and join in Deutsche Grammophon’s celebration of Mozart year 2006 with a new recording of Mozart’s Mass in C minor

 

Mozart’s personal letters reveal that he had made a promise to write a mass giving thanks to God if he could one day marry Constanze – a wish that came true in late 1782. The Mass in C minor premiered in Salzburg in 1783

 

Though it was left as an unfinished torso missing half the “Credo” and the entire “Agnus Dei”, this mass has never failed to astound audiences with its combination of forceful choral settings – influenced by Baroque oratorio – and the passionate, emotional solos, particularly for soprano voice. Many modern scholars see these as Mozart’s tribute to his wife, who reportedly performed the soprano role at the 1783 premiere

 

To further explore the full spectrum of dramatic soprano singing, McCreesh combines the mass with two dramatic scenes for soprano and orchestra by Haydn and Beethoven; both settings, mini-operas in themselves, give voice to the rage of an abandoned woman

 

The album, recorded in London in late 2004, followed a series of highly acclaimed concert performances of the same repertoire. The Times (London) was one of many publications to praise the ensemble’s special rendering: “McCreesh propels his period-instrument band and incisive choir with feverish energy. There's never a dull moment. Yet he also has the imagination and control to conjure up delectable oases of calm”

Paul McCreesh's new recording of Mozart's unfinished C minor Mass matches Gardiner (Philips), Christie (Erato) and Hogwood (L'Oiseau Lyre) in exhilaration and sensitivity, and arguably surpasses all-comers in the crucial choice of female soloists. Camilla Tilling, radiant in the pastoral "Et incarnatus est", and the glowing mezzo Sarah Connolly sing with grace, beauty and effortless virtuosity, whether in their solos or the celestial sparring of their "Domine Deus" duet.
While the soprano arias are Mozart at his most suavely Italianate, the choruses reveal him at his most monumental and Handelian. McCreesh and the incisive, disciplined Gabrieli Consort generate a magnificent tension in the "Kyrie" and the "Qui tollis", here unusually swift and anguished, while the "Cum sancto spiritu" fugue marries dancing agility with a thrilling cumulative power.
What gives McCreesh a decisive edge over his rivals is the inclusion of two superbly dramatic concert arias by Haydn and Beethoven. Connolly, unfazed by the high-lying writing of the Haydn, and Tilling catch all the pathos and outrage of these classical heroines, while never letting us forget their innate nobility.
Richard Wigmore, Telegraph

 

Archiv 4775744