Cherubini: Messe Solenelle; Haydn: Paukenmesse / Rilling, Bach Collegium

1. Mass No.5, for chorus & orchestra in D minor
Composed by Luigi Cherubini
Performed by Stuttgart Bach Collegium with Gisela Burkhardt , Pamela Coburn , Cornelia Kallisch , Martin Thompson , Jacob WIll , Martin Wanner
Conducted by Helmuth Rilling

2. Missa in tempore belli, for soloists, chorus, organ & orchestra in C major ("Paukenmesse"), H. 22/9
Composed by Franz Joseph Haydn
Performed by Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra with Michel Brodard , Ingeborg Danz , Christoph Pregardien , Ruth Ziesak
Conducted by Helmuth Rilling

Customer Reviews:

Cherubini Gets a New Lease on Life.......2001-09-26

I'm sure I'm not the only music lover who is fond of Cherubini's urbane, well-crafted music, but maybe such are few since most new releases of Cherubini's works, beyond Medea and the famous Requiem, seem to disappear quickly from the catalog. That being the case, I recommend you snatch up this recording of the Messe Solenelle before it, too, is gone. I was struck by the mass when it appeared in an old Vanguard recording with Johannis Somary, and while I thought my enthusiasm would have paled over the years, it is still strong for the work.

While the liner notes to the Somary recording gloated over the fact that Cherubini's mass is, at over 70 minutes, longer than Beethoven's Missa Solemnis written a decade later, that of course would mean little if Cherubini's effort weren't a strong and sustained one. And it is, though never matching the intensity and power of Beethoven's work. But Cherubini's mass has its own stong points. After the rather somber Kyrie, the Gloria is a heady movement with great elan. The same can be said of the Cum Sancto Spiritu fugue and the Amen, as well put together as the same sections in Haydn's justly famous masses. Drive and grandeur both mark the Resurrexit and Sanctus. But many of the more intimate movements are marked by a solemn beauty that is just as powerful, especially the Crucifixus, with its restlessly swirling string figurations and the equally unsettled Qui Tolis. Perhaps the Dona Nobis is rather light for a work with so much solemn gradeur, but this is the only misstep, I think, in a work that clearly deserves to be heard.

The performance strikes me as a very fine one, the chorus and orchestra both well drilled and well led by Rilling, who chooses throughly apt tempi and dynamics. Among the soloists, the Americans Pamela Coburn and Martin Thompson stand out with ardent yet, when needed, ethereal presences.

The Haydn is quite a good performance as well, though perhaps not in the outstanding class. Still, the well-sustained Agnus Dei and the joyous Dona Nobis make a very strong case for this performance, and as a make-weight to Cherubini, who revered Haydn, the Paukenmesse is a perfect choice.

The recording is a very fine one, nicely handling the more intimate music in an obviously spacious spacious venue that lends gradeur to the bigger moments of both works.

Track Listings:

Track Listings

track listings

Track Listings

Accentuate the Positive [Import]

Favourite German Opera Choruses [Import]

Genius of the Blues [Import]

Wille "The Lion Smith" And His Cubs

Dinner With Raoul [Import] [Original recording remastered]

DJ Mix '99

Cigar Lounge [Import]

El Cancionero de Medinaceli: Works by Pedro Guerrero / Francisco Guerrero / Cebrián / Ginés de Morata / Antonio de Cabezon / Alonso Mudarra - Hesperion XX

Country Pickin': The Don Rich Anthology

Classic Pianos

Fallen [Enhanced] [Extra tracks] [Import]

End of the Age

DJ Attack V.2 [Import]

Broken Image

Smooth Jazz: Radio Hits, Vol. 1