Search - Janacek, Tilson Thomas :: Glagolitic Mass

Hair raising

05/13/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have to say, I've heard most of the major recordings of these 2 works, and I find this by far the most exciting. Tilson-Thomas really let the LSO off the lead, even to the extent of letting the trumpets in the last bar of the Sinfonietta play up the octave. They were obviously having the time of their lives. Some of the Tempos are a bit ambiguous, but with such exquisite wind playing, and powerful brass (all the top London players were on these sessions), who cares! The sound engineering is marvellous too, recorded in a wonderful old church in London, the antiphional qualities of the Sinfonietta really work. Just to add the penultimate organ movement in the Mass was also performed by St Paul's Cathedral's fabulous organist. A must have for those who appreciate the virtuoso qualities of these works."

Not the wildest Mass on records, but extremely well performe

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 02/07/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Janacek's Glagolitic Mass has gathered quite a few recordings since the pioneering days of Rafael Kubelik on DG in the Sixties, but the work hasn't gotten easier to perform or record. It's fiendish on both counts, and before one speaks of interpretation, it's the refinement of Tilson Thomas's 1990 recording that stands out. I hadn't known of the existence of this CD, but I bought it knowing that MTT can manage large forces, and Sony's 20-bit "high definition" engineering sounded promising.



On both scores this is a superior effort, with lovely, wide-ranging sound and impeccable ensemble from the London Sym., their magnificent chorus, and four risk-taking vocal soloists (recorded very close up, by the way). Only soprano Gabriele Benackova is a native Czech, but Janacek's vocal writing lies so high that pronunciation isn't much of a factor, not to meniton that the language is Old Chruch Slavonic.



In the end, though, it's the interpretation that matters most, and here MTT may be too restrained for someone used to hearing this work as a rough barbaric yawp -- little of that is in evidence in a reading that is a little churchy for what the composer famously called an atheist's Mass. But MTT catches the right celebratory spirit -- he's never dull or pompous -- and here and there there's a sense of abandon in the brass section. The organ soloist is accomplished but not quite berserk enough. The instrument itself is a grand monster, just what's needed. When all the ingredients are totted up, this is an outstanding recording.



The Sinfonietta has become the catch-all filler for any CD of orchestral Janacek, but that doesn't make it less a masterpiece. The 14 tumbling trumpets in the opening fanfare are nearly impossible to get right -- how do you find enough highly skilled trumpeters who can play in tune? LOndon provides them, however, so it's real shame that the brass are placed so far back -- te loss of impact is considerable. That said, MTT gives a wild and free performance that is one of the best I've ever heard."