Joe:

I’ve enjoyed your blog for some time now. Thanks for taking the time to make it.

You’ve asked about the above mass. It has been recorded several times by some of the better church and collegiate choirs of Europe. The Wiener Sangerknaben is one that has certainly recorded the piece in the past on LP.

I have 2 CD versions, one from the Augsburg Cathedral Choir, 1991. It uses only male voices. The second is from the Winchester College (UK) choir, 1990. I’ll give full CD technical details below.

The Classical period, Haydn in particular, is a favorite of mine. I have no musical training. But, as purely an amateur, it’s work and more to find someone who pleases my ear, who understands the period. I encountered Mozart as a listener in the 70’s, long before the composer become the ‘great geniuis’ of the Media Frenzy. Karl Bohm was a main force in my listening.

I also thought Emil Gilels to be able to access some of the piano concertos. But—raised in that ‘romantic’ era in which these two men were virtuoso— I dislike the authentic approach of today’s interpretations.

These two choral recordings take a modern approach. Both are fast. I am afraid they miss much of what must be there. I say ‘must be there,’ since I always feel that the real Mozart, or Haydn, is waiting for the right spirit to bring the music to life. There is a vision to the music which few seem to seek.

There is one present interpreter, Adam Fischer, who manages to capture some of Haydn’s liveliness. You may know Fischer. [Now I do. -jm]

He emphasizes the musicality which the original instrument people discard. But there is a cleanness, an elegance, a flowing nature which he has yet to be show in what I have heard. I suspect Fischer, as his contemporaries, is too caught up with his own abilities, or ego, to see the full nature of what Haydn created.

Here is the story of Fischer’s monumental undertaking with the Haydn symphonies. This may give you a chance to sample Fischer’s understanding. By the way, I REALLY like the brief Mozart excerpt here. I’m not sure that Fischer has recorded Mozart, however.

Two English groups—the London Mozart Players and another group from Scotland whose name escapes me—have excited my interest with their Classical Period interpretations. I have also (surpisingly!) found some provocative approaches from a couple of Eastern European orchestras.

The details on the choral CD’s:

WA MOZART, Missae Breves, Augusburger Domsingknaben, Collegium Aureum, directed by Reinhard Kammler. TWO-CD set. HARMONIA MUNDI D-7800, Freiburg. 77090-2-RC. My copies are released by BMG MUSIC, NYC, NY, 1991.

Contents: CD1: Missa K49, K 194, K 220, K275. CD2: Missa K 258, MISSA K 192 IN F-DUR, Missa K 259, Missa K 65.

(Kammler questions original instrumentation, but C.Aureum is usually associated with that approach in my understanding.)

MOZART: Three Salzburg Masses, K 192 in F, K 220 in C, K 275 Bb, Epistle Sonatas + Ave Verum.

The Quiristers of Winchester College, directed by Julian Smith. The Amadi Orchestra, leader C. Mackintosh. (Adult) soloists: Ruth Holton, Charles Brett alto, Andrew Tusa tenor, Henry Wickham bass. (The orchestra uses original instruments, according to the notes.)

72 minutes, Proud Sound CD 128, Oxford, UK. Recorded July 1990 in Winchester College Chapel.

My hope is that you might discover at a good music exchange copies of these recordings, if you are interested. Perhaps inexpensively, too! Princeton used to have a large used exchange. (Berkshire Record Outlet is a reputable online source, highly recommended. I don’t find these two titles listed at their website.)

My best wishes for your college study.

Please continue to blog.


Very truly,

John Griffith

Birmingham, AL USA

I do not know what can be said of my daily scrawls here, but I think it is safe to announce that Dartblog has the best readership of any blog on the Internet.

The merits of historically-informed performance make for interested debate. Like John, I was reared, as far as Mozart goes, at least, on Bohm and Marriner. It is still great fun to listen to these recordings, but I also must realize while listening that those men take great liberties with Mozart. In recent years I have come to appreciate the benefits of originalist readings. Zander’s Beethoven symphonies, which he conducts at the original tempi from the autograph scores, are simply revelations in their gross rejection of the romantic movement’s slow, sedate revisionism of Beethoven. Gardiner and Pinnock soar when they conduct Mozart; from the most faithful scores and on the most historically accurate instruments. And Hogwood is a necessity in this world.