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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
27 of 27 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This CD was such a find - I am thrilled with it. Kings choir is very good in the recording of the Nelson Mass; the balance is right and the boys are just sparkling, esecially on the high notes. The Vivaldi Gloria is also well-done; I reckon that the performance here was made during the transition period from the heavy interpretations of the past to the more delicate 'original instruments' revolution that we still have today. However this Gloria is *far* more gutsy and wholesome than the rather bland L'Oiseau Lyre version. The soprano/alto duet 'Laudamus Te' is wonderful, complete with very gooey trills!
The real jewel on this album though is Sylvia Stahlman in the Nelson Mass. Initially her voice sounds delicate and a bit brittle, but she soon warms up and positively soars in the Kyrie and the Gloria. Add to this her wonderful interpretation of the words (e.g. Quoniam to solus *sanctus*) and you've got a top singer. There's also a very sweet photo in the sleeve, of her sitting outside King's chapel! Tom Krause was also good.
The third item is Zadok the Priest. I still cannot decide whether I prefer this version to Cleobury's version or not. It is certainly brighter but it can sound a bit harsh and bouncy. It's good though. Listen out for the very enthusiastic counter-tenor on 'May the King live forever!'!!!
I love this CD: three great recordings.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
10 reviews
28 of 28 people found the following review helpful
A Great Performance of the Nelson Mass
13 April 2000
Format:Audio CD
This is a very powerful performance of the Nelson Mass, and the soprano does a beautiful job. The acoustics inside the cathedral are good, and the CD booklet has lots of historical information and plenty of photos. If you're not familiar with Haydn's choral music, many of them have a powerful, thunderous tone very different from much of his instrumental pieces. If you like this mass, you will love the opening and finale of Haydn's Seven Last Words of Christ. And, of course, the great oratorio, the Creation.
I love Vivaldi's Gloria, but the first movement of this performance of the Gloria, however, goes way too slow and feels so heavy. Buy this CD for the performance of the Nelson Mass and consider buying another performance of Vivaldi's Gloria.
31 of 34 people found the following review helpful
Four decades of excellence
24 April 2004
Format:Audio CD
This magnificent Haydn mass was recorded when period performance was still a glint in the eye of authenticists, a half-dozen years before Harnoncourt's original embarassment with Bach's Brandenburg concertos. David Willcocks was among a handful of conductors who exhibited temperament, moderation and drama to record the Haydn masses in the 1950s and 1960s in recordings that still have not been surpassed.
Haydn was a great old man, full of fun and humor, not above poking fun at himself, his employers and his society. But one thing he did not poke fun at was God and his relationship with the Almighty. While this mass is technically about Nelson's victory at the Nile, it is clear the driving force behind the drama was Father Superior.
For this reason, the ultra-dramatic, almost cinematic, approach used by Bernstein and Pinnock, while effective, is inappropriate. They overflow with drama but lack dignity. Christian faith is nowhere to be found, neither is self-denial in the face of glory.
Willcocks' singers are wonderful. I have some quibbles with the Latin pronunciation but his singers are miles ahead of the competitors including more recent recordings by Gardiner and Hickox.
The period performance crowd has generally done a nice job with Haydn but none project his temperament as well as Wilcocks, Simon Preston and George Guest, who together recorded all the great Haydn masses in a 10-disk set London 448518). Some of the better performances -- the Nelson, Harmony, Kettledrum and little organ masses, among others -- are in a London twofer you can buy for a very modest cost (ASIN: B0000041MA).
Haydn was a great old man, full of fun and humor, not above poking fun at himself, his employers and his society. But one thing he did not poke fun at was God and his relationship with the Almighty. While this mass is technically about Nelson's victory at the Nile, it is clear the driving force behind the drama was Father Superior.
For this reason, the ultra-dramatic, almost cinematic, approach used by Bernstein and Pinnock, while effective, is inappropriate. They overflow with drama but lack dignity. Christian faith is nowhere to be found, neither is self-denial in the face of glory.
Willcocks' singers are wonderful. I have some quibbles with the Latin pronunciation but his singers are miles ahead of the competitors including more recent recordings by Gardiner and Hickox.
The period performance crowd has generally done a nice job with Haydn but none project his temperament as well as Wilcocks, Simon Preston and George Guest, who together recorded all the great Haydn masses in a 10-disk set London 448518). Some of the better performances -- the Nelson, Harmony, Kettledrum and little organ masses, among others -- are in a London twofer you can buy for a very modest cost (ASIN: B0000041MA).
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Good but not the best
23 Jun 2005
Format:Audio CD
I was looking for a Nelson Mass, so a friend gave me this one. The soprano is good, but I sometimes find her voice a little bit waving. The bass is really a bariton with a dark voice.
The problem is that it's recorded in ADD format, so there's lot of noise.
If you're going to buy a Nelson Mass... better buy....
Haydn: Missa in Angustiis "Nelson Mass" - Te Deum / Lott, Watkinson, M. Davies, Wilson-Johnson; Pinnock
The problem is that it's recorded in ADD format, so there's lot of noise.
If you're going to buy a Nelson Mass... better buy....
Haydn: Missa in Angustiis "Nelson Mass" - Te Deum / Lott, Watkinson, M. Davies, Wilson-Johnson; Pinnock
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