Another birthday offering
for Mozart’s 250th anniversary is celebrated
by Hyperion and showcases the soprano
Carolyn Sampson.
All the sacred repertoire
dates from the composer’s time in Salzburg.
However, the origins and authenticity
of the Sub tuum praesidium has
been a matter of conjecture by Mozart
scholars.
The two considerable
Regina coeli settings - for soprano,
chorus and large orchestra - written
whilst Mozart was still only in his
mid-teens, are high quality scores but
infrequently heard and even less often
recorded. This is impressive music,
with triumphant outer movements and
heartfelt, more introspective inner
sections in which Mozart is at his most
ardent.
The substantial Exultate,
jubilate has, of course, been performed
and recorded widely, but usually in
the ‘Milan’ version. Here Hyperion have
recorded the rarely heard ‘Salzburg’
version which has different words and
different orchestration: delicate flutes
instead of oboes giving a very different
colour. It ends with the famous, virtuosic
‘alleluia’.
The disc includes a
series of shorter works, including three
great movements for solo soprano taken
from larger sacred works: the famous
Laudate Dominum from the Vesperae
solennes de Confessore - which could
be by Verdi, with its amazing soft choral
entry part way through - the ravishing
Agnus Dei from the ‘Coronation’
Mass and the less frequently heard
Laudate Dominum from the Vesperae
solennes de Domenica, with
a joyful organ solo duetting with the
voice. Finally, the glorious and rarely
heard duet, Sub tuum praesidium,
where thanks to studio technology the
soprano soloist performs both parts.
Carolyn Sampson has
established an impressive reputation
and is regarded as one of the leading
British sopranos of her generation.
She has appeared on a large number of
recordings, namely: Kuhnau, Knüpfer,
Vivaldi, Zelenka, Monteverdi and Lalande
for Hyperion, Bach for Harmonia Mundi,
Orfeo for Virgin Classics, Amor in Gluck’s
Elena e Paride for DG Archiv,
Bach Cantatas for BIS, Buxtehude for
Linn Records and lute songs for Deux-Elles.
There has been considerable
critical interest in this release and
I did enjoy Sampson’s performances but
perhaps less so than several of the
glowing reviews that I have read.
She has a pleasant
voice which I found to have considerable
weight and an impressively detailed
focus in these sacred scores. Her mid
to lower register has an appealing creaminess
which diminishes slightly in smoothness
as her voice is extended. Sampson does
rather swoop up to grab the high notes,
a tendency that fortunately did not
detract too much from my enjoyment.
Her vibrato is only slight and never
proves distracting. Surely, she did
not authorise the unflattering picture
on the front cover.
The Choir of The King’s
Consort and The King’s Consort under
Robert King provide sterling performances
and prove themselves to be ensembles
at the top of their form. The Hyperion
engineers have provided excellent sound
quality, the essay by Robert King is
decent enough and full Latin texts with
English translations are included.
A well performed and
enjoyable release of Mozart sacred music.
Michael Cookson
Carolyn Sampson (soprano) 
for
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