Requiem in D Minor KV 626
Litaniae de venerabili altaris sacramento
in E flat, KV 243
Litaniae Lauretanae in B flat major
KV 109
Litaniae de venerabili altaris sacramento
in B flat major KV 125
Litaniae Lauretanae in D major KV 195
Vesperae solennes de Dominica in C major
KV 321
Vesperae solennes de Confessore in C
major KV 339
Regina Coeli in C major KV 108
Regina Coeli in B flat major KV 127
Sancta Maria, Mater Dei in F major KV
273
Regina Coeli in C major KV 276
Scande coeli limina in C major, KV 34
Inter natos mulierium in G major KV
72
Benedictus sit Deus in C major KV 117
Sub tuum praesidium in F major KV 198
Misericordias Domini in D minor KV 222
Venite populi in D major KV 260
Alma Dei Creatoris in F major KV 277
God is our Refuge KV 20
Miserere in A minor KV 85
Quaerite primum regnum Dei KV 86
2 deutsches Kirchenlieder KV 343
Veni sance Spiritus in C major KV 47
Te Deum Laudamus in C major KV 141
Ergo interest in G major KV 143
Kommet her, ihr rechen Sunder in B flat
major KV 146
Exultate, jubilate in F major KV 165
Dixit Dominus and Magnificat in C major
KV 193
Tantum ergo in D major KV 197
Ave verum corpus in D major KV 618
Mass in C Minor KV 427
Kyrie in D minor KV 341
Missa Solemnis in C major KV 337
Coronation Mass in C major KV 317
Missa Brevis in B flat major KV 275
Missa Longa in C major KV 262
Missa Brevis in C major KV 259 (Orgel
Solo)
Missa in C major KV 258 (Spaurmesse)
Missa in C major KV 257 (Credo messe)
Missa Brevis in C major KV 220 (Spatzen
Messe)
Missa Brevis in D major KV 194
Missa Brevis in F major KV 192
Missa in C major KV 167 (Trinitatis
Messe)
Missa Brevis in G major KV 140
Missa Solemnis in C minor KV 139 (Waisenhausmesse)
Missa Brevis in D minor KV 65
Missa in C major KV 66 (Dominicusmesse)
Missa Brevis in G major KV 49
Kyrie in F major KV 33
Vellentina Farcas (soprano)
Annemarie Kremer (soprano)
Marietta Fishcesser (soprano)
Pamela Heuvelmans (soprano)
Anja Bittner (soprano)
Petra Labitzke (soprano)
Barbara Werner (alto)
Gabriele Wunderer (alto)
Daniel Sans (tenor)
Benoit Haller (tenor)
Robert Morvaj (tenor)
Gerhard Nennemann (tenor)
Christof Fischesser (bass)
Manfred Bittner (bass)
Jens Wollenschlager (organ)
Chamber Choir of Europe
Camerata Würzburg
Kurpfälzisches Kammerorchester
Mannheim
Süddeutsches Kammerorcheser Pforzheim
Teatro Armonico Stuttgart
Nicol Matt (conductor)
Recorded July 2001, Alte Kirche, Fautenbach
23-26 October, 9-11, 26-28 November
2001, Kloster Bronnbach Wertheim
4-6, 11-13 February 2002, Mannheim
BRILLIANT CLASSICS 92113 [15
CDs: 48.16+42.49+63.30+54.50+39.45+61.00+55.00+45.00+55.55+47.10+58.45+54.28+45.27+56.30+66.32]
Mozart worked for the
Archbishop of Salzburg until 1780 (when
he was 24), so it is not surprising
that he produced copious amounts of
sacred music. There is no doubt that
Mozart expressed deep religious feelings
in some of his sacred music, but he
came to feel constrained by his working
conditions in Salzburg. The second Archbishop
that he worked for had strong views
on the length of a mass; it must not
last more than 45 minutes. As a result
the Salzburg masses are all rather compact
in nature and offered few opportunities
for Mozart to expand and deepen the
music. The rare occasions when he was
able to break out of this, such as in
the Litaniae de venerabili altaris sacramento,
which was not written for the Archbishop,
gave him welcome musical opportunities.
It is only in the two later masses (the
Requiem and the Mass in C minor) that
we can see him bringing his full talents
to bear. It is therefore, a matter of
deep regret that both of these two masses
are unfinished, so we have no complete
mass by the mature Mozart.
Of the 46 items on
the disc (20 masses and torsos, 4 litanies,
2 vespers plus miscellaneous movements),
only 4 date from 1781 or later (the
year of the premiere of Idomeneo).
And some 30 items date from the period
1771 to 1781, the years of his late
teens and coming maturity. This means
that in this 15 disc set, there is not
a great deal of mature Mozart. But everything
that he wrote is of interest, even the
little English motet ‘God is our refuge’
written in 1765 for performance in London.
The set opens with
the most familiar piece, the Requiem
in D minor. This disc reflects the basic
strengths and weaknesses of all the
recordings in this set. The common factor
in all of them is the choir, the Chamber
Choir of Europe, with conductor Nicol
Matt. The choir make a good clean bright
sound and can be notable for their rhythmic
vitality. It is a chamber choir, which
is a good thing in these works, but
not everyone will like the focused sound
and will long for the warmth and luxuriance
of a bigger ensemble. Personally, I
find this choir’s approach to classical
music perfectly refreshing. In the Requiem
they successfully negotiate some of
the trickier passages in Mozart’s choral
writing, notably the ne absorbeat
passage in the Domine Jesu where
the choir’s tenors succeed where many
other ensembles have been found wanting.
For the Requiem they
are accompanied by the Süddeutsches
Kammerorchester, Pforzheim. This is
one of a number of German regional chamber
orchestras that accompany the choir
in the set. Using such ensembles ensures
that we get a good balance between chamber
choir and orchestra and that the orchestra’s
sound quality matches that of the choir.
The disadvantage is that none of the
ensembles is of the first rank and sometimes
the accompaniment lacks the polish of
a more well known ensemble.
In the Requiem, the
orchestra contribute a lively accompaniment,
but details can be untidy. For this
work Mozart uses trombones to double
the choir and sometimes they cover the
inner parts of the choir. For soloists,
the set uses a pool of 14 singers none
of whom are well known. All musical,
their performances are creditable without
always being ideal. In the Requiem soprano
Pamela Heuvelmans has too much vibrato
for this type of music (a common complaint
on this set), but tenor Robert Morvaj
gives a very attractive account of his
tricky opening solo.
The next 3 discs contain
Mozart’s 4 Litanies and 2 Vespers services.
All these works date from the period
1770 to 1780 and Mozart used them as
a welcome opportunity to write on a
different scale to the short masses
for Salzburg. In the Litanies, one can
only marvel at Mozart’s ability to generate
such fascinating music out of a text
that is basically just a list. This
group of works requires strong soloists.
The soprano and tenor soli in particular
can be very taxing. Here, taken by singers
with decent lyric voices, the showy
passage-work rather suffers. This is
a shame as the chorus and orchestras
(Teatro Armonico Stuttgart, Kurpfälzisches
Kammerorchester Mannheim and Süddeutsches
Kammerorchester Pforzheim) give a fine,
chamber feel to these pieces, really
drawing us in to the sensation of listening
to a small-ish church performance and
not a grand concert. The Vespers services,
from 1779 and 1780, have a noticeably
more complex texture than the earlier
Litanies. The second Vespers contain
the well known Laudate Dominum.
Here soprano Pamela Heuvelmans turns
in a performance significantly better
than the others on these three discs.
She shares the solos with Annemarie
Kremer who also brings an unfortunate
vibrato to the table.
The next three discs
contain a miscellany of smaller works.
Many of these are for completists only,
with pieces ranging from 1765 through
to 1791. The most well known is the
Ave Verum Corpus which receives
a distressingly soupy performance, quite
out of character with the rest of the
choral contributions on these discs.
Some pieces, like the two late Kirchenlieder
are frankly tedious and the Miserere
rather outstays its welcome. But there
are some pleasing, small-scale choral
motets which receive decent performances;
these would be ideal for many church
choirs. These discs contain another
of those remarkable pieces that seem
to stand out from their neighbours and
are deservedly well known, the Exsultate
Jubilate. If the performance here
is not too remarkable, this need not
worry us unduly as most people will
have a selection of recordings of this
work in their library.
The next disc contains
the Mass in C Minor, the great mass
setting from Mozart’s mature period.
Associated with his wedding, the piece
was written to showcase his wife’s voice,
with her amazing range. Even incomplete,
this work is on a bigger scale (both
physically and emotionally) than any
of the earlier masses. From the haunting
opening of the Kyrie we are in a different
world. In this piece, as other later
works, the expressive solo parts have
different problems to the virtuoso pieces;
even the soprano solo’s extensive range
is used for more expressive purposes.
The soprano soloist contributes a lovely
et incarnatus est though in earlier
solos both sopranos’ upper registers
were a little on the steely side. Nicol
Matt encourages his forces to contribute
highly characterised performances in
each movement, but an overall sense
of structure seems to be missing from
this performance.
The next seven discs
survey the remainder of Mozart’s masses
in roughly reverse chronological order.
The first disc containing the masses
Mozart wrote in his last year at Salzburg,
the last disc finishing with the little
Kyrie he wrote in 1766. The first disc
opens with the Kyrie in D minor, a torso
of an incomplete work. This is a fine,
sombre piece lasting over seven minutes
and its associated mass would have been
one of Mozart’s most deeply serious
examples; we can only regret its lack.
The Missa Solemnis K337 was the last
piece that Mozart would write for Salzburg
and the Coronation Mass K317 was written
in fulfilment of a vow. The coronation
refers to a ceremony crowning a statue
of the Virgin rather than an Imperial
coronation. Here the performers are
at their best. The solos suit the singers’
voices in a way that has not always
been true in earlier discs and the choir
and orchestras contribute stylishly
crisp performances.
The remaining masses
receive equally creditable performances
and it is a notable achievement for
the choir to have recorded such a wide
range of music at such a consistent
standard. In the little Organ solo mass,
Missa Brevis KV 259, organist Jens Wollenschlager
finally gets a chance to shine, having
contributed to the texture in a number
of masses. Unfortunately, his organ
sounds more suitable to discreet ensemble
playing than solo work. Some of these
earlier masses give the lie to the claim
that all Mozart’s early masses are short.
In fact the Waisenhaus Mass KV 139 and
the early Dominicus Mass KV 66 are both
substantial works. The Waisenhaus mass
has a date which belies its KV number.
In fact, there is some doubt as to when
this impressive mass was performed;
possibly in 1768 or even as late as
1772. If written as early as 1769 (parts
of the score are written in Leopold’s
hand) it was probably designed to try
to impress the Imperial court; which
it certainly would have done, with its
remarkable sombre and operatic Agnus
Dei and Crucifixus, both
of which make wonderful use of dark
orchestral sonorities. The early Dominican
Mass KV 66 is a startling achievement
for such a young boy. It was written
for the ordination of the son of the
Mozart family’s landlord.
This set is an impressive
achievement for the Chamber Choir of
Europe and Nicol Matt. The discs were
recorded in a remarkably short time
and I can only marvel at the choir’s
stamina and ability to learn and digest
so much music. My only regret is that
the budget did not stretch to some soloists
who were more suitable to Mozart’s often
difficult solo lines.
Of the major works
on these discs, no performance is ideal.
But at super budget price, this set
is ideal for those people wishing to
fill in gaps in their collection. And
if you have not listened to much of
Mozart’s sacred music apart from the
Requiem, then this is a lovely place
to start.
Robert Hugill
BRILLIANT CLASSICS 92113 [15 CDs]