Search - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, William Christie, Les Arts Florissants :: Mozart - Great Mass in C minor K. 427 / Dawson · Petibon · Cornwell · A. Ewing · Les Arts Florrisants · Christie

The"Dream Team"became Nightmare thanks to the Producer

A music fun | Argentina | 02/18/2000

(3 out of 5 stars)

"First, sorry for my bad English (Iam a Spanish speaker). The great Mass is for me his most lovely religious work. It is easy to conclude that: it is almost complete (the parts unfulfilled can be easily completed, according to the reviewerc of the Cd)and it has a great variety of textures and musical resources. Consider the requiem: it is austere, always thinking in four- part voices and no great instrumental freedom; some parts have been boringly fulfilled by Susmayr and finishes just as it begins. Indeed you can see how light spares through the work when Mozart is present, and how darkness ( speaking about compositional skill, of course) threatens when Susmayr is alone. No matter what critics say: if I have to choose between requiem and this Mass, my choice is k 427. Christie is a great conductor ( see Rameau Motets). He gets a fresh reading, with fast tempi, clear woodwind,amazing tromboni , rich sound in the strings, clever articulations. So the orchestra is 5 stars.The choir is good, clear throughout all voices but it could have got less vibrato (however, it is better than conventional choirs, for ex Abbado's). The soprano( Petibon ?)which sings "Et incarnatus" and the entry in Kyrie seems ideal for this repertoire:she is absolutely beautiful in her purity of tone But the rest of the soloists is clearly not good. If soprano II is Dawson, she definitely does not achieve a success as a Mozartian singer in this recording, like both men. They three have too much vibrato to deserve to work with Christie, specially the tenor and Soprano II. Dawson has a harsh voice and I don't understand how a tenor with such " historical" curriculum can lack musical cleverness and purity of tone to sing Mozart. As I read in an Amazon review of "Le Nozze", the producer is to blame for the success of the cast. I add that for the failure, too.Christie did what he could.A good choice if you want just a good recording of the work on period instruments. But this is not "The" recording of the Mass."