There are many recommendable aspects to this period-instrument, all-male recording of Mozart's Mass in C major, K. 317 ("Coronation"), and Missa Brevis, K. 192. First is the deployment of the mass sections themselves. It is often pointed out that the sections of a Classical-era mass are not like the movements of a symphony; Mozart wrote these pieces for use in Salzburg's ecclesiastical establishment, and they would have been performed with liturgy and other music in between the individual sections. As conductor Andrew ...
Read More
There are many recommendable aspects to this period-instrument, all-male recording of Mozart's Mass in C major, K. 317 ("Coronation"), and Missa Brevis, K. 192. First is the deployment of the mass sections themselves. It is often pointed out that the sections of a Classical-era mass are not like the movements of a symphony; Mozart wrote these pieces for use in Salzburg's ecclesiastical establishment, and they would have been performed with liturgy and other music in between the individual sections. As conductor Andrew Nethsingha points out, the joyous explosions of sound at the beginnings of the sections of the "Coronation" Mass especially lose their proper impact when preceded by movement finales at roughly the same pitch of intensity. Yet simply performing the work as part of a full Catholic mass doesn't quite put it across either (although there are occasional performances and recording that do just that). Nethsingha opts for a compromise that may not be historically authentic, but is musically very...
Read Less
