Composer: Franz Joseph Haydn
Performer: Janice Watson, Pamela Helen Stephen, Mark Padmore, Stephen Varcoe
Orchestra: Collegium Musicum 90
Conductor: Richard Hickox
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Chandos
Catalogue: CHAN0592
Release: 1996
Size: 278 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Mass, Hob. XXII:12 in B flat major ‘Theresienmesse’
01. Kyrie
02. Gloria: Gloria in excelsis Deo
03. Gloria: Gratias agimus tibi
04. Gloria: Quoniam tu solus sanctus
05. Credo: Credo in unum Deum
06. Credo: Et incarnatus est
07. Credo: Et resurrexit
08. Sanctus
09. Benedictus
10. Agnus Dei: Agnus Dei
11. Agnus Dei: Dona nobis pacem
Mass, Hob. XXII: 7 in B flat major ‘Kleine Orgelmesse’
12. Kyrie
13. Gloria
14. Credo
15. Sanctus
16. Benedictus
17. Agnus Dei
Hickox generates the physical and spiritual elation essential to this music, calling to mind Haydn’s own much-quoted remark that whenever he praised God his heart leapt with joy. In the glorious Theresienmesse of 1799 Hickox’s manner is particularly fine in the exultant, springing Gloria and the rough-hewn vigour of the Credo. He understands, too, the Mass’s dramatic and symphonic impetus, bringing a powerful cumulative momentum to the sonataform ‘Dona nobis pacem’ and thrillingly tightening the screws in the closing pages. The choir is placed forward, though never at the expense of orchestral detail, keenly observed by Hickox. His uncommonly well-integrated solo quartet framed by the sweet-toned Janice Watson and the gentle, mellifluous Stephen Varcoe, sings with a chamber-musical grace and refinement in the ‘Et incarnatus est’ and the Benedictus. And their supplicatory tenderness in the ‘Dona nobis pacem’ contrasts arrestingly with the choir’s urgent demands for peace.
Hickox also captures the peculiar serenity and innocence of the much earlier Missa brevis SanctiJohannis de Deo, or Little Organ Mass, its intimacy enhanced here by the use of solo strings. A disc guaranteed to refresh the spirit.