MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger


 
REVIEW


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 

cover image

alternatively
CD: AmazonUK AmazonUS
Download: Classicsonline

Joseph HAYDN (1732–1809) Missa Cellensis in honorem BVM, Cäcilienmesse [65:16]
Ann Hoyt (soprano); Julie Liston (soprano); Luthien Brackett (alto); Kirsten Sollek (alto); Matthew Hughes (tenor); Stephen Sands (tenor); Bert K Johnson (bass); Richard Lippold (bass)
Trinity Choir; Rebel Baroque Orchestra/J. Owen Burdick
rec. Trinity Church, New York May 2001. DDD.
NAXOS 8.572122 [65:16]

Experience Classicsonline

Haydn’s early settings of the mass - he wrote 11 in all - have slipped from view, so it is good to see this release of the first one he composed, in 1766.

Dating from 2001, it is hardly a new recording but its freshness and sense of vitality belie its age. From the start, the massed forces eschew the notion that this an ecclesiastical work. Rather, they take on board contemporary criticism that Haydn’s masses were more for entertainment than contemplation. Accordingly, the tempi are set at an exuberant pace, and the solo passages have a lively, theatrical air.

The main let-down is the quality of some of the solo singing. It is unclear why double the number of SATB soloists are employed when never more than one part is required for each movement. So whereas Stephen Sands has a bright, earnest tone in the ‘Christe eleison’ (track 2), his fellow tenor Matthew Hughes is rather pale by comparison. He and alto Luthien Brackett sound positively ropey in a flagging ‘Domine Deus’ (track 7), while Richard Lippold’s high bass lacks the necessary gravitas in the brief Agnus Dei (track 17).

Balanced against these disappointments are some sparkling performances from sopranos Ann Hoyt and Julie Liston. Hoyt is impressively agile in the ‘Laudamus te’ (track 5), and Liston gives a joyous account of the ‘Quoniam tu solus sanctus’ (track 9). The Trinity Choir also hold their own pretty well, although the lower registers can sometimes wander off track, and both they and the orchestra are at their best in the lively allegro passages rather than during Haydn’s more ponderous moments.

The sound quality is warm and clear, and Naxos’s sleeve-notes provide a full and detailed explanation of the composition of the mass, and its place in Haydn’s career.

John-Pierre Joyce



Lively and theatrical but let down by the quality of some of the solo singing.… see Full Review
 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools






Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.