Masaaki Suzuki, Bach Collegium Japan - W.A. Mozart: Great Mass in C minor (2016) MCH SACD ISO + DSD64 + Hi-Res FLAC

As the mysterious opening bars of the Kyrie gradually emerge into the light, we know that this recording of Mozart’s glorious Great Mass in C minor is a special one: the tempi perfect, the unfolding drama of the choral writing so carefully judged, and, above it all, the crystalline beauty of soloist Carolyn Sampson’s soprano, floating like a ministering angel. Masaaki Suzuki’s meticulous attention to detail, so rewarding in his remarkable Bach recordings, shines throughout this disc, the playing alert, the choir responsive, the soloists thrilling. And there is the bonus of an exhilarating Exsultate, Jubilate with Sampson on top form.

As the nickname indicates it is a work of unusual proportions for a mass of the Classical period – or would have been so, had Mozart completed it. It is not known for what occasion Mozart intended the work, but a letter to his father Leopold dated 4 January 1783 indicate that he may have committed himself to writing it in connection with his marriage to Constanze and a planned visit to Salzburg. A performance of parts of the Mass did take place in Salzburg in October 1783, with Constanze performing the prominent soprano part. Two years later Mozart reused the music from the Kyrie and Gloria sections in the sacred cantata Davidde penitente, K 469, but the Mass itself was left incomplete. The present performance includes the sections completed by Mozart himself, as well as those sections for which extensive sketches by Mozart provided a basis for completion (by Franz Beyer in 1989).

Three of Suzuki’s soloists also took part in the recording of the Requiem, while the Dutch mezzo-soprano Olivia Vermeulen makes her first appearance on BIS, shining in the aria Laudamus te. The disc closes with the celebrated cantata Exsultate, jubilate in which the soprano Carolyn Sampson glitters in the virtuosic solo part. As an appendix to the programme she and the Bach Collegium Japan orchestra also repeats the initial aria, in a less well-known later version with a slightly different text and with flutes replacing the oboes of the original.

BBC Music Magazine - January 2017 Disc of the month
Gramophone Magazine - December 2016 Editor's Choice
Gramophone Awards - 2017 Winner (Choral)

As he reached the end of his magisterial cycle of Bach cantatas, one might have been forgiven for asking, "Well, what's next?" for conductor Masaaki Suzuki and his Bach Collegium Japan. With the release of a recording of Mozart's Requiem in D minor, K. 626, and now the Mass in C minor, K. 427, the answer appears to be the application of historical-performance techniques to Mozart and perhaps to other later music. Suzuki, with so much Bach on his plate, is a bit late to this game, and there are places here where his smooth, sensuous yet sober choral style from the Bach recordings makes this sound a bit like Bach. Several things make it work, however. First is the fact that much of the mass is written in the old polyphonic style and was influenced by Mozart's first serious engagement with Bach's music at the home of the aristocrat Baron van Swieten, and all the virtues of the Collegium's performances apply in the big choruses. Sample the Wall of Sound effect in the double-choir "Qui tollis peccata mundi," and note throughout the way the levels of size in the mass are handled intelligently. Second, Suzuki has always chosen effective soloists, and he scores in a big way here with soprano Carolyn Sampson, who delivers a thrilling Exsultate, Jubilate, K. 165, to bring down the curtain, throwing in a rarely heard alternate version to boot. Finally, Suzuki performs a 1989 partial completion of the mass by German scholar Franz Beyer. This version fills out the sections that Mozart partially completed, including the "Incarnatus "(gorgeous here under Sampson's control), without making grand new statements, and it's probably the most preferable approach, available up to now with historical instruments only in an unorthodox version by Nikolaus Harnoncourt. The unusual tempos that appeared in Suzuki's Requiem are absent here, and the bottom line is that if you're OK with Mozart that sounds a bit like Bach at times, you'll find this a satisfying rendition of the "Great" C minor mass.

Tracklist:

01. Mass in C minor, K427: Kyrie
02. Mass in C minor, K427: Gloria in excelsis Deo
03. Mass in C minor, K427: Laudamus te
04. Mass in C minor, K427: Gratias agimus tibi
05. Mass in C minor, K427: Domine Deus
06. Mass in C minor, K427: Qui tollis peccata mundi
07. Mass in C minor, K427: Quoniam tu solus sanctus
08. Mass in C minor, K427: Jesu Christe
09. Mass in C minor, K427: Cum Sancto Spiritu
10. Mass in C minor, K427: Credo in unum Deum
11. Mass in C minor, K427: Et incarnatus est
12. Mass in C minor, K427: Sanctus
13. Mass in C minor, K427: Benedictus
14. Exsultate, jubilate, K165: I. Exsultate, jubilate
15. Exsultate, jubilate, K165: II. Fulget amica dies
16. Exsultate, jubilate, K165: III. Tu virginum corona
17. Exsultate, jubilate, K165: IV. Alleluja
18. Aria: Exsultate, jubilate (From the revised Salzburg version of K 165 from 1779,
with alternative text and flutes replacing the oboes)

Personnel
Carolyn Sampson - soprano
Olivia Vermeulen - mezzo-soprano
Makoto Sakurada - tenor
Christian Immler - baritone
Bach Collegium Japan - Conducted by Masaaki Suzuki

Produced by Hans Kipfer. Engineered by Jens Braun. Editing & Mixing by Hans Kipfer.
Recorded in November 2015 at the Saitama Arts Theater, Concert Hall, Japan.


Thanks to ipokemongo!
Uncompressed SACD ISO size > 3,31 GB
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