Mozart’s achievement
in sacred vocal music was at its most
significant during his years at Salzburg.
After 1781 and his new career as a freelance
musician in Vienna, opportunities were
restricted by the recurring feud between
church and state.
This Decca reissue
gathers together three of the best of
Mozart’s vocal works, all captured in
vibrant performances and recordings
from the 1970s. The earliest of these
pieces is the celebrated Exultate jubilate
of 1773. During his Italian tour of
that year he composed it for the eminent
castrato Venanzio Rauzzini. The anonymous
text expresses the joy of a soul freed
from uncertainty by the relief of offering
prayers to the Virgin Mary. The orchestral
contribution sensitively supports the
vocal line and enhances the musical
characterisation, while the four sections
are complementary in design. In the
light of this provenance it is no surprise
that the success of the work in performance
centres on the role of the soprano soloist,
and it is generally well served as far
as recordings are concerned. The return
of this recording with Erna Spoorenberg
reminds us of the nature of her talent,
which was ideally suited to this repertoire.
Marriner and his orchestra accompany
her most sensitively, and the tempi
are well chosen. The recorded sound
is accurate and pleasing, and really
the only drawback is that this is the
least strong piece on the disc, so continued
listening through the whole contents
is not to be encouraged.
The so-called Coronation
Mass of 1779 also shows the young Mozart
at the top of his creative form. This
is the finest of all Mozart's Salzburg
Masses. The memorable title came later,
however, when Antonio Salieri directed
a performance at Prague in 1791, on
the occasion of the Emperor Leopold
II being crowned as King of Bohemia.
(Mozart wrote the opera La clemenza
di Tito for these same celebrations.)
The Mass was originally written, it
seems, for a special festive service
commemorating a miraculous image of
the Virgin in the church of Maria Plain
above Salzburg.
The festive character
comes across from first movement to
last. Perhaps the tempi in the opening
movement are a little relaxed, but at
least this suits the text, which translates
as ‘Lord have mercy on me’. There is
a well-crafted balance between solo
and ensemble, and the team of soloists
is distinguished. The soprano Ileana
Cotrubas is perhaps the pick of them,
but the others are excellent too. Throughout
the balance between activity and poetry
is skilfully drawn, and with Marriner
directing the Academy it is no surprise
that the orchestral playing is distinguished.
The remaining work,
the Solemn Vespers, is the most substantial
of the three. It is also the least widely
known, but it can lay claim to being
the strongest. The settings are of standard
Psalm texts, each of them standing in
its own right rather than as a smaller
aspect of a larger picture. The performance,
featuring excellent soloists with the
late-lamented Wren Orchestra under George
Guest, has abundant vitality if not
quite the sophistication of the Marriner
performances.
The sound is splendid,
as in the other performances, and this
reissue has brought the music to vibrant
life. In a way the title Solemn Vespers
is misleading, since the music is so
vital. In fact the point is clear from
the very opening bars, which soon generate
that momentum that is a typical feature
of the classical style. Religious texts
can be dramatic, of course, and there
is a setting of the famous text of the
Dixit Dominus that encouraged the young
Handel to write one of his earliest
masterpieces.
There are contrasts
in abundance in this rich score, both
of texture, pace and expression. George
Guest was an experienced choral conductor,
whose reputation in the classical repertoire
still goes before him. Hearing this
performance it is not hard to see why,
and this makes a most pleasing compilation
for the discerning collector, even if
the accompanying booklet is thin on
notes and non-existent on texts and
translations.
Terry Barfoot
Ileana Cotrubas (soprano), Helen Watts (alto),
Robert Tear tenor), John Shirley-Quirk (bass)
