Search - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Peter Neumann, Collegium Cartusianum :: Salzburg Sacred Music [Hybrid SACD]

Joyous 5-channel recording for the Mozart year

Larry VanDeSande | Mason, Michigan United States | 04/19/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Old hand Peter Neumann recorded Mozart's Missa Solemnis KV 337 once before. Neumann is an authenticist that uses a period band. This recording is twice as good as the one he made previously, a rendition that included the organ sonata KV 336 between the Gloria and Credo sections, as he has done here.



While the notes suggest inserting the sonata adheres to 1780 Salzburg norms -- this is said to be the final sacred music Mozart composed during his years in Salzburg -- it also adds a delightful touch to this blissful reading.



The recording also features Mozart's "Vesperae solennes de confessore", from which many are most familiar with the coloratura soprano solo-dominated Laudate Dominum. I would say the six-piece set is performed wonderfully with the possible exception of the most famous item.



Soprano Cornelia Samuelis eschews bravura and virtuosity in the Laudate Dominum, understating her delivery more than I've ever heard. Neumann's accompaniment, at 4:40, is very broad and reverential, as if to say the combined forces want this to project its sacred text and not the formulaic virtuosity every famous soprano has given us.



Does it work in this format? Yes but it takes some getting used to. Neumann can be very deliberate on this recording, as he is during the opening Kyrie of the mass. Yet this is the exception, not the norm, for the director leads merry lickety split renditions most of the time.



The MGD five-channel recording is a joy to hear. It appears to have been recorded from a distance, not up close, allowing the forces to blend and create a homogenous whole. All the while you hear every timpani downstroke, instrument, and choir section clearly enunciated. The soloists all perform adequately and better.



The notes talk about the performers with historical discussion on 1780 performance style. This is clearly a humanisitc approach mated to historic technique. I like these interpretations very much and think my reservations about technique and tempi will give way with repeated listening.



I have heard a number of fine recordings of the Missa Solemnis, in particular the wonderful recording led by Marcus Creed on a very inexpensive CD. This one is not only a sizable improvement over Neumann's other recording of this music, it is a better package than any previous recording I have heard. I would recommend this recording to audiophiles and people that want to hear sacred music festively done."