Mozart: Mass in C minor, K427

On this CD:

1. Mass No. 17 for soloists, chorus & orchestra in C minor (fragment, "Great Mass"), K. 427 (K. 417a)
Composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Performed by Pro Musica Chamber Orchestra with Walter Berry, Murray Dickie, Wilma Lipp, Christa Ludwig
Conducted by Ferdinand Grossmann

Mozart: Mass in C minor, K427, Music, Walter Berry, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ferdinand Grossmann, Christa Ludwig, Pro Musica Chamber Orchestra, Wilma Lipp, Murray Dickie, Choral, Classical, Mass
Mozart: Mass in C Minor K427/Masonic Funeral Music K477 - Natalie Dessay, Veronique Gens, Louis Langree, Le Concert D'Astree (CD & DVD)
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • Stunning
 Mozart: Mass in C Minor K427/Masonic Funeral Music K477 - Natalie Dessay, Veronique Gens, Louis Langree, Le Concert D'Astree (CD & DVD)

Manufacturer: Virgin Classics
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B000EQHSEQ
Release Date: 2006-10-03

Tracks:

  1. Kyrie
  2. Gloria In Excelsis Deo
  3. Laudamus Te
  4. Gratias
  5. Domine
  6. Qui Tollis
  7. Quoniam
  8. Jesu Christe
  9. Cum Sancto Spirito
  10. Credo In Unum Deum
  11. Et Incarnatus Est
  12. Sanctus
  13. Benedictus
  14. Masonic Funeral Music K. 477 In C Minor

Amazon.com

Mozart wrote his C-minor Mass to celebrate his hard-won marriage to Constanze and, though only half-finished, premiered it in Salzburg in 1783, taking her there to meet his family and to sing the first-soprano solo. (She must have been a formidable singer: it contains some of his most fiendishly difficult music.) Why Mozart did not complete the Mass remains unexplained; Alfred Einstein called it "a magnificent torso." Like the Requiem, the Mass has inspired several attempts to "complete" it, but Louis Langrée, who conducts this recording, found them unsatisfactory and created his own version. Where Mozart omitted or sketched vocal and instrumental parts, Langrée reconstructed them, but unlike some editors did not substitute music from other pieces for the missing sections. Apart from some clumsy transitions and muddy counterpoint, his emendations work well. The Mass's grand, solemn first chorus in somber C minor (Mozart's favorite key for drama and tragedy) seems a strange opening for a hymn of thanksgiving, but the mood soon changes to serene affirmation with a very operatic soprano aria in E-flat major, and indeed C minor never returns. Mozart appears to be striving for a synthesis between the sacred and the theatrical: majestic choruses alternate with meltingly lyrical arias and coloratura showpieces full of leaps across a huge range; devout pleading and lamentatious chromaticism alternate with exaltation, praise, and gratitude; complex fugues reveal Mozart's new-found fascination with counterpoint. The performance balances these contradictions admirably; chorus and orchestra are excellent; among the soloists, Veronique Gens stands out vocally and expressively. The "Masonic Funeral Music" combines elements of march and chorale, beginning in tragic C minor, but ending on a radiant C-major chord. --Edith Eisler

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Stunning.......2007-01-09

Excellent from any point of view. Dessay is fantastic. Only regret: stilistically too different the two sopranos.
Mozart: Great Mass K427; Haydn: Te Deum / Fricsay
Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • A classic in its time; a timepiece today
  • Best Great Mass .
  • Very difficult masterworks handled (seemingly) effortlessly
  • Fricsay's Magnificent Mozart & Haydn
  • Magnificent choral singing
 Mozart: Great Mass K427; Haydn: Te Deum / Fricsay

Manufacturer: Deutsche Grammophon
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B00004R7X3
Release Date: 2000-06-13

Tracks:

  1. Great Mass In C Minor K. 427 (417a): Kyrie (Andante moderato) - Gloria
  2. Great Mass In C Minor K. 427 (417a): Gloria in excelsis Deo (Allegro vivace)
  3. Great Mass In C Minor K. 427 (417a): Laudamus te (Allegro aperto)
  4. Great Mass In C Minor K. 427 (417a): Gratias (Adagio)
  5. Great Mass In C Minor K. 427 (417a): Domine (Allegro moderato)
  6. Great Mass In C Minor K. 427 (417a): Qui tollis peccata mundi (Largo)
  7. Great Mass In C Minor K. 427 (417a): Quoniam tu solus Sanctus (Allegro)
  8. Great Mass In C Minor K. 427 (417a): Jesu Christe (Adagio)
  9. Great Mass In C Minor K. 427 (417a): Cum sancto spiritu
  10. Great Mass In C Minor K. 427 (417a): Credo in unum Deum (Allegro maestoso)
  11. Great Mass In C Minor K. 427 (417a): Et incarnatus est (Andante)
  12. Great Mass In C Minor K. 427 (417a): Sanctus (Largo)
  13. Great Mass In C Minor K. 427 (417a): Benedictus (Allegro comodo)
  14. Te Deum Hob. XXIIIc:2: Te Deum - Joseph Haydn

Customer Reviews:

3 out of 5 stars A classic in its time; a timepiece today.......2006-07-18

Ferenc Fricsay's reading of Mozart's "Great" C Minor Mass has gotten a lot of raves over the years. While not many current periodicals continue to list it as a signature recording in this repertoire, the only version of Third Ear Classical Music suggests it remains a "special" recording on the A list.

Along with his equally famous recording of Dvorak's "New World" Symphony from about the same time (1960), this recording is one of Fricsay's most eminent. It represents the conductor at his impulsive, romantic best equal to Bernstein and other conductors who carried romance -- some say idiosyncrasy -- into the literalism movement of the postwar era that eventually became today's period movement.

For me, I enjoyed this idiom when I was young and was new at collecting records. Indeed, my once favorite recording of Beethoven's 7th Symphony was the one led by Fricsay, in part because of the stately pace of the final movement that exploded into accelerando at the coda, going forward into a highly charged conclusion.

Today, after 30 years of period induced recordings, this style seems out of place and out of step. Yet this recording is an exemplar of the romantic virtues conductors like Fricsay used in their heyday. While his generous use of rubato, accelerando and, especially, ritard was commonplace in its era, it's a sure bet no one records the Mozart Great Mass this way today.

What has carried this recording all these years are a half-dozen aesthetics that transcend its old-fashioned approach. It is a devotional reading as opposed to those whose approach (Davis in the 1960s and, more recently, McCreesh in 2005) is overtly dramatic. The singing, for the most part, is outstanding for both the soloists and choir, whose Latin is excellent. They correctly pronounce desceles as day-sail-is where today's choirs usually sing day-shail-is.

The recording is a marvel of its era with a clearly defined sound stage, extraordinary clarity and pretty good depth for 1960. The playing of the RIAS Chamber Orchestra -- that stands for Radio In the American Sector for those of you too young to remember the Cold War -- is equally exquisite. Note the clearly defined oboe accompaniment to Stader's solo in "Et incarnatus est".

The Haydn "Te Deum" is equally successful in this romantic way, with bellowing timpani, big moments in an all charges ahead approach, and a great big old romantic ritard at the end.

So why only 3 stars for this classic? There are a bunch of things wrong with this recording that render it more of a timepiece than a timeless classic. First and foremost, while Maria Stader and Hertha Topper sing beautifully and are recorded wonderfully throughout, they also slide all over the place.

I have been a singer for four decades and don't know one time when using a slide was considered de rigeur. Unlike glissando on the piano and portamento for strings, using a vocal slide is normally associated with sloppiness and laziness. It can be appropriate in spirituals but never in classical music.

Note Stader's upward slides in the "Laudamus te" section of the Credo and how both women use this trait in the "Domine" section. These are not the only sections where this occurs and it does not only occur with the women.

In addition to Fricsay's other ultra-romantic devices, he has a tendency to use stop and go technique followed by snail's pace slow beginnings with rapid speed build up afterward. He uses the ritards to end tracks 5 and 7, followed by slow beginnings and racy speeds afterward in tracks 6 adn 8. This is a distraction that takes away from the overall performance.

The recording, for all its merit, is a paramour of early stereo with artificial anitphonal separation in the channels. This is so prominent that, when I played this on my 5.1 system in five channel playback, the antiphonal separation still overwhelmed the recording.

Another 1960s technique is apparent whenever the soloists enter: they are so closely miked tney sound larger than life and dwarf the orchestra. When the quartet enters, you hardly know there is an orchestra at all. This creates an unnatural sound picture, like the soloists are standing next to you and the orchestra is somewhere down the street.

All these things, as well as Fricsay's romanticisms, were commonplace in the 1960s with multi-miked recordings of masterpieces led by potboiling conductors. This is exactly the kind of thing the classical music moved away from in the period movement that got under way in earnest with Norrington's first Beethoven set of symphonies in the 1980s.

So here is a classic that mixes merit with eccentricity in old-fashioned architecture. The recording offers both good and bad, in my view, in just about equal measure. For that, I agree it is memorable but some of those memories are best not repeated at home on a regular basis.

5 out of 5 stars Best Great Mass ........2006-06-20

Another Stader recording in Stereo. Although an old recording it is beautifully produced. Even with very sensitive hifi equipment there are no shortcomings sound quality wise.
It sound absolutely wonderful.
Stader is just out of this world in 1st, 3rd and 11th tracks.
There is so much feeling in her voice it is unbelievable.
You will forget about all other recordings of the Great Mass once you have enjoyed this one.

5 out of 5 stars Very difficult masterworks handled (seemingly) effortlessly.......2005-11-12

Although not as well known as the Requiem, Mozart's great C minor mass is on the same exalted plane of inspiration, and comes closer to his formal ideals. What distinguishes Mozart from almost every other composer in the Western canon is that he accomplishes difficult things, but you never hear that effort, you only hear the end result which sounds like the simplest, most natural thing in the world. It is this trait, more than anything else, that a Mozart interpreter needs to reveal, and Fricsay accomplishes this wonderfuly. By comparison, Bernstein's reading sounds overweight and mannered, and although I greatly admire Karajan's unpretentious view of the work, his recording sounds overly statuesque. As has been remarked on by other reviewers, the Kyrie is particularly inspired here, walking the very difficult line between sacred bombast and simply sounding glib. The Haydn is superbly done as well, capturing the amiable quality that is so characteristic of him. Aside from interpretation, the performance and recording are superb. A real treat from beginning to end.

5 out of 5 stars Fricsay's Magnificent Mozart & Haydn.......2005-06-12

It's very gratifying to see that the other reviewers share my great fondness for this CD. DG has given these performances exceptional sound in transferring them to CD (in both cases, they are actually superior to the original LPs). Fricsay is simply transcendent in this eloquent 1959 account of Mozart's un-finished Great Mass in C minor - this is the finest stereo version I have heard. In fact, other than his concerto accompaniments for pianist Clara Haskil, I think this is Fricsay's finest accomplishment as a Mozartean (Fricsay's Mozart opera & symphony recordings were not at the same exalted level). The soloists here, especially the heavenly soprano voice of Maria Stader, are all superb, and the choir of St. Hedwig's Cathedral is magnificent (Stader and this same choir were also sensationally good in DG's earlier recording of the Brahms Requiem under Fritz Lehmann).

The only other version of the Mozart I have kept is the fine 1950's mono Epic LP set, with Rudolf Moralt conducting the Vienna Symphony & Vienna Chamber Choir. That set had Teresa Stich-Randall (a very fine but very different type of soprano than Stader), Hildegard Rossl-Majdan (I actually prefer her mezzo to Hertha Topper's here with Fricsay), tenor Waldemar Kmentt and baritone Walter Raninger. While over-all I prefer Fricsay's, this Moralt-led reading is very appealing in a smaller-scale, more Viennese sort of way, and it includes the Agnus Dei (omitted here by Fricsay). The Moralt has been re-issued outside the U. S. on the Retrospective CD label.

Haydn's wonderful, jubilant Te Deum is a fairly late work (1800) and is more up-beat and joyeous than the Mozart. Fricsay was a wonderful Haydn conductor, and this 1960 reading is one of his best - and it's LIVE! It was recorded in the same venue as the Mozart with Fricsay's beloved Berlin Radio Symphony (formerly called the RIAS Symphony - Radio in the American Sector), but with a different choral group (the RIAS Chamber Choir & North German Radio Choir). It only lasts 9 minutes, but every one of them is superb!

Highly recommended.

Jeff Lipscomb

5 out of 5 stars Magnificent choral singing.......2000-08-23

If I were an aspiring singer I'd listen to this recording day and night. I'd sleep with it under my pillow. I'd study, learn, memorize. This is some of the finest singing I've ever heard, and demonstrates Fricsay truly was one of the greatest conductors ever.

I hate to merely say "me too" to all of that's written by others here, but I agree with everything said about this wonderful recording. Fricsay is beyond criticism and handles the voices here in a way that has to be heard to be believed...just the right balance to passion and control. The clarity is astonishing as well, and the soloists shine. The orchestra is first rate, and the conductor really understands the *structure* of the work, better than anyone else I've ever heard. Once again DG Originals emerges as the performance to get, and at a great price, too. Their reissue program has been so superior up till now, and this recording continues that tradition. Fricsay was truly one of the most gifted conductors of that period, even if he wasn't one of the biggest marquee names. A pity he is no longer with us, but at least he left us many "desert island" recordings to treasure.
Mozart: Mass in C minor, K427
Average customer rating: Not rated
    		Mozart: Mass in C minor, K427

    Manufacturer: Preiser Records
    ProductGroup: Music
    Binding: Audio CD

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    ASIN: B00000C3IC
    Release Date: 1995-02-07
    Mozart: Mass in C minor, K427 / Kyrie in D minor, K341
    Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    • Mozart's greatest sacred work?
    		 Mozart: Mass in C minor, K427 / Kyrie in D minor, K341

    Manufacturer: Naxos
    ProductGroup: Music
    Binding: Audio CD

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    ASIN: B00004WJVR
    Release Date: 2000-10-17

    Tracks:

    1. Mass in c, K.427 'Great Mass': Kyrie
    2. Mass in c, K.427 'Great Mass'. Gloria: Gloria
    3. Mass in c, K.427 'Great Mass'. Gloria: Laudamus Te
    4. Mass in c, K.427 'Great Mass'. Gloria: Gratias
    5. Mass in c, K.427 'Great Mass'. Gloria: Domine
    6. Mass in c, K.427 'Great Mass'. Gloria: Qui Tollis
    7. Mass in c, K.427 'Great Mass'. Gloria: Quoniam
    8. Mass in c, K.427 'Great Mass'. Gloria: Jesu Christe
    9. Mass in c, K.427 'Great Mass'. Gloria: Cum Sancto Spiritu
    10. Mass in c, K.427 'Great Mass'. Credo: Credo In Unum Deum
    11. Mass in c, K.427 'Great Mass'. Credo: Et Incarnatus Est
    12. Mass in c, K.427 'Great Mass': Sanctus
    13. Mass in c, K.427 'Great Mass': Benedictus
    14. Kyrie in d, K.341

    Customer Reviews:

    5 out of 5 stars Mozart's greatest sacred work?.......2006-10-31

    As with other Naxos discs that I own, this one offers a magnificent performance at a terrific value. While Mozart unfortunately never completed this superb mass, which he dedicated to his wife Constanze in 1782-83, it is considered by many experts to be one of his most heavenly compositions. In fact, after listening to Mozart's other masses and the famous Requiem, I would argue that the breathtaking scope and musical substance of this Mass surpasses them all. It is truly amazing! If you haven't heard this one before, then you need to buy this cd and you will once again be in awe of Mozart's genius.

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