John Eliot Gardiner, English Baroque Soloists, Monteverdi Choir - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Great Mass in C minor (1987)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 229 Mb | Total time: 53:26 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Philips | # 420 210-2 | Recorded: 1986
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 229 Mb | Total time: 53:26 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Philips | # 420 210-2 | Recorded: 1986
Writers on Mozart sometimes take him to task for the alleged mixture of style in the C minor Mass, in particular the use of florid, 'operatic' solo writing amidst all the severe ecclesiastical counterpoint. To object is to misunderstand the nature of Mozart's religion, but it takes a performance as stylistically accomplished as this one to make the point in practice. The usual stumbling-block is the 'Et incarnatus', with its richly embellished solo line and its wind obbligatos. Sung as it is here, by Sylvia McNair, beautifully refined in detail, it's indeed passionate, but passionately devout.