Mozart: Great Mass in C minor [Import]

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Composer), Herbert von Karajan (Conductor), Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (Performer), Wiener Singverein (Performer), David Bell (Performer), Barbara Hendricks (Performer), Janet Perry (Performer), Peter Schreier (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Wiener Singverein, David Bell, Barbara Hendricks, Janet Perry, et al.
• Conductor: Herbert von Karajan
• Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• Audio CD (February 15, 1993)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Dg Imports
• ASIN: B000001GJX
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #125,340 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great, even if too polished..., June 12, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Mozart: Great Mass in C minor (Audio CD)

Like most of the digital recordings Karajan made, this one is also excessively polished and emotionally detached. However, it is an overall great performance(more perfection than the somewhat overrated live Bernstein recording around the same time), and soprano Barbara Hendricks gives a really beautiful performance. She is perfect...The other soloists are good too. The dynamics are large, some of the quiet moments are hard to hear, and the organ, if present, is not heard. In general, Karajan's recordings made during the 60's are usually among the very best ever, and most of his 70's recordings are really wonderful too. So instead of buying his DDD recordings, consider the ADD ones, when he was widely acclaimed as the best conductor in the world, and his conducting had none of the mannerisms and blandness of his later career during the 1980's. Besides, the Berlin Philharmonic was a much better orchestra during the 1960's and 70's, and those recordings usually have even more outstanding soloists, like Gundula Janowitz in the earlier Mass in C recording.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Power and the Anachronism, June 3, 2011

By 

Bernard Michael O'Hanlon (Wilsons Prom, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mozart: Great Mass in C minor (Audio CD)

Good luck tracking down the 'ADD' alternative (sic) - this is Herbie's only recording of K 427 (the reviewer above must have been thinking of the 1976 Coronation Mass with Tomowa-Sintow, not Janowitz). And let's talk about the performance itself rather than pontificating on about Karajan's career which should be left to the likes of Osborne Herbert von Karajan: A Life in Music

Firstly, the 'Gold' Remastering has cleaned up this recording no end. There are big forces amassed here and they are juggled superbly by the engineers. And yes, one can hear the organ in certain instances (for what it is worth).

The performance is defiantly old fashioned - it's actually not all that different from Karajan's Bach Magnificat on Sony Herbert Von Karajan - His Legacy for Home Video: J.S. Bach - Violin Concerto in E Major. Underwritten by the grandeur of the Berlin Philharmonic, it invites you to revel in lushness. God is conceived as the celestial Sun King. If you cannot foresee this approach, it's time to fix those loose wires hanging out the back of your head. The Herbie soup-o-meter goes off occasionally in the Kyrie and falls silent thereafter (thankfully).

The soloists sing memorably. While my allegiance to Cotrubas in the Leppard recording remains strong, I soften towards Hendricks every time I listen to this performance anew. Her Laudamus Te is a delight. In way of conception, not style, the opening of the Gloria is not dissimilar to the opening movement of the Nielsen Fourth: both bring to mind the act of Creation and the exuberance thereof (Nielsen: Symphony No. 4 / Sibelius: Tapiola ~ Karajan. The Qui Tollis, Iesu Christe and the fugue that follows are resplendent.

One could argue that Karajan's approach is too suave or too grand or too whatever but this is a unique conception whose integrity is indubitable. Mozart would marvel at the unanimity of approach. And it makes one so damned annoyed that K 427 is a torso: a Crucifixus would have been a wonder of the world and a rival to Bach's setting in the B Minor Mass.

It is not for everyone but it could be for you. Note: if you want a less 'soupy' approach, the Hogwood Gruel Kitchen is open for business (Mozart - Great Mass in C Minor / Augér, Dawson, Ainsley, Thomas, AAM, Hogwood).

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lesser known than the Requiem Mass, but more beautiful, August 23, 2001

By 

Tom Sanders "Tom Sanders" (Lansing, Mi United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mozart: Great Mass in C minor (Audio CD)

This is a first rate production of one of the most beautiful choral works ever written. Most folks don't ever discover this music until after they have been exposed to the more well known Requiem Mass. There are those of us, though, who think that this is Mozart's great choral masterpeice. You may not agree, but if you love choral works you sure will be glad you discovered this enchanting bit of Mozart's output. I haven't heard Gardiner's version, but I'd bet it is supberb also.