Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756 - 1791)
Missa solemnis in C minor KV 139 ‘Waisenhausmesse’ (1768/9?) [44:52]
Missa brevis et solemnis in C major KV 220 ‘Spatzenmesse’ (1775/6) [16:40]
KV139: Gundula Janowitz (sop); Frederica von Stade (alto); Wieslaw Ochman (ten); Kurt Moll (bass)
Konzertvereinigung Wiener Staatsopernchor
Wiener Philharmoniker/Claudio Abbado
KV220: Edith Mathis (sop); Tatiana Troyanos (alto); Horst Laubenthal (ten); Kieth Engen (bass)
Regensburger Domchor
Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks/Rafael Kubelik
rec. 1972/75
DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 476 7140 [61:38]

We have no complete mass by the mature Mozart as neither the Mass in C minor nor the Requiem was finished by him; all we have are juvenile or youthful works written under constraints requiring them to be brief and compact, without much elaboration or development. Nonetheless, these are two works of great value and quality, the first composed by Mozart probably when he was around twelve years old and the second when he was in his late teens. No wonder Köchel misattributed the Orphan Mass with a much later date; it is difficult to believe that a pre-pubescent boy – albeit a genius - could write such music. Apart from a certain imposed short-windedness, many sections here would not be out of place in liturgical works composed much later; the grander of the opening of the Kyrie alone is enough t0 alert the listener to the fact that something special is about to unfold.

The ‘Waisenhausmesse’ was commissioned by the Jesuit priest Father Ignaz Parhammer for the consecration of the new Orphanage Church – Waisenhauskirche on the Rennweg in Vienna, hence its nickname. Mozart himself conducted a choir of said orphans and one wonders how good they were, but here we have to make do with the Vienna State Opera choir, who manage to scrape by. We also have a stellar quintet of soloists headed by the divine Gundula but I derive as much pleasure from von Stade’s honeyed tones, Ochman’s sweet, plangent tenor and Moll’s incisive black bass. The ladies are so lovely in their brief ‘Laudamus te’ but in addition to the frequent lyricism, there is real steel in some of the young Mozart’s setting of the sterner passages of the text, such as the ‘Qui tollis’ of the Gloria, with its fierce string ostinato – contrasting beautifully with the immediately ensuing’ Quoniam’, whose runs are angelically sung by Janowitz.

KV 220 was probably first performed in Salzburg Cathedral at Easter and its nickname derives from fancying that the violin flourishes in the Hosanna of the Sanctus sound like the chirping of sparrows. The recording here benefits from a cast of singers here almost as distinguished as that of the Orphan Mass and gains from the presence of a keck boys’ choir rather than more sophisticated women’s voices. It is performed with enormous verve and gusto, as befits a composition which, despite its brevity and simplicity of form is luxuriously scored for four soloists, a four-part choir, brass, timpani and strings, all underpinned by an organ figured bass – hence its almost oxymoronic amalgam title: Missa brevis et solemnis.

Both conductors are masters of the idiom and direct world-class orchestras which don’t overwhelm the voices; I suspect that forces were judiciously reduced to accommodate the scale of the works being performed.

This is the usual shoddy, bare-bones-bargain issue with the absolute minimum of information except for the performers, a track-listing and, inevitably, a picture of two sparrows on the cover. It doesn’t matter; most collectors know what’s in a mass, and both the pairing and performances here are ideal – a blissful hour.

Ralph Moore