This disc was recorded in memory of Princess Diana of Britain, shortly after her death. It was funded by another ill-fated icon of the 1990s, the Arthur Andersen accounting firm. The connections between the two works on the album are just about that tenuous; both date from the 1790s, and they have connections with icons of that era (British admiral Lord Nelson on the one hand and Catherine the Great of Russia on the other), but they are related by neither genre nor geography. Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass, also known as the ...
Read More
This disc was recorded in memory of Princess Diana of Britain, shortly after her death. It was funded by another ill-fated icon of the 1990s, the Arthur Andersen accounting firm. The connections between the two works on the album are just about that tenuous; both date from the 1790s, and they have connections with icons of that era (British admiral Lord Nelson on the one hand and Catherine the Great of Russia on the other), but they are related by neither genre nor geography. Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass, also known as the "Missa in angustiis" (Mass Written in Anguished Times, meaning the Napoleonic Wars), is a massive creation. Deprived of the temporarily disbanded wind players at Esterháza castle, Haydn responded with a unique work full of bare textures: strings, trumpets, and drums. The mass lacks the down-home wit that is the soul of Haydn, but taken on its own terms it's impressive. The Kyrie reflects the anguished times of the work's subtitle, but the rest of the work is sunnier. The little-known...
Read Less
Portions of content provided by Rovi Corporation. © 2024 Rovi Corporation.