12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
The"Dream Team"became Nightmare thanks to the Producer, February 18, 2000
This review is from: Mozart - Great Mass in C minor K. 427 / Dawson · Petibon · Cornwell · A. Ewing · Les Arts Florrisants · Christie (Audio CD)
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.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
elegant and fresh, May 27, 2006
This review is from: Mozart - Great Mass in C minor K. 427 / Dawson · Petibon · Cornwell · A. Ewing · Les Arts Florrisants · Christie (Audio CD)
I own three recordings, all are excellent in their own way:
Gardiner (Philips) a very lively performance with big contrasts and dramatic in an extrovert way.
Herreweghe (Harmonia Mundi) a dark, more intimate performance though very dramatic in an introvert way.
And this one: Christie's (now on elatus for cheap), a rather light, elegantly fresh, open and and maybe more neutral performance.
Wich one I like best is hard to say, all have their strengths, although Gardiner's version appears to be the most idiomatic.
Christie's version is rather down to earth and also the quickest in most parts.
For some it could be too fast: the "Et incarnatus est" for instance is the fastest version I heard, just over 6 minutes where others need at least 8 minutes
But it doesn't sound rushed at all, it is completely natural and the soprano Patricia Petibon sings it lovely, a very cean, pure sounding voice almost as lovely as Sylvia McNair's voice on Gardiner's recording.
The "Qui Tollis" however is too fast for my liking, even faster than Herreweghe's already fast chosen tempo.
Gardiner is the best here, much broader in tempi and more "grand" in the choral treatment.
This part really needs some weight in my opinion and Gardiner's bigger choir (at least it sounds bigger than Herreweghe's and Christie's choir) is much preferable over Christie's and Herreweghe's.
Christie's choir is very good although not as refined as Hererweghe's and Gardiner's.
Christie's reading however sounds much like a live concert, something I love very much about this recording, It may not be as virtuoso and transparant as Gardiner's Monteverdi Choir and not as finely polished and intimate as Herreweghe's but it's all the more spontaneous and loose.
Gardiner's choir is virtuoso and although sometimes too "loud" sounding, Gardiner's (miltairy disciplined) force is superior and simply breathtaking.
Even the most dense textures in choral passages remain open and transparant.
Mozart and Gardiner are a successful couple.
All my reservations I often have towards Gardiner in Bach and Handel I don't have in his Mozart.
I don't know exactly why, but everything works here (as it works in his phenomenal Mozart operas recordings)
His orchestra is polished, rhythmic and very light.
Christie's and Herreweghe's players are fine too, in some respect preferable for their more "personal", spontaneous and warmer performance, but Gardiner's English Baroque Soloists are just that more lightfooted and sharp.
Herreweghe is very impressive in the openingchorus Kyrie.
The most dark reading of the three and the most dramatic.
He builds the tension slowly and doesn't need to be as extrovert as Gardiner to make even more impact in this movement.
His is, as said, a darker, more introvert reading,.
Crescendos are restrained a little, but in Herreweghe's highly concentrated treatment of the score, you can feel involvement in every single note, it has more meaning and is in a way more powerful .
The soloists are great in all 3 recordings
Gardiner's Sylvia McNair is so lovely, a very pure girlish voice with little, excellent controlled vibrato.
Patricia Petibon in Christie's recording comes close.
Christie's Lyne Dawson I like the least, although she sings with far less vibrato than Jennifer Larmore in Herreweghe's recording...I don't know why I'm not that fond of her voice in Christie's recording.
It is difficult to pick a favorite, but in the end my vote goes to Gardiner, which sound is more true to what I think Mozart should sound like.
And I like the bigger choir, it adds the extra weight to which some passages fair well with.
Still, Christie's reading is magnificent, pretty straightforward and the least "pretentious" reading.
The sound of the recording is excellent, very real and with natural warmth.
I wouldn't want to live without it.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
The April 1999 Bomb-Plot, November 12, 2011
This review is from: Mozart - Great Mass in C minor K. 427 / Dawson · Petibon · Cornwell · A. Ewing · Les Arts Florrisants · Christie (Audio CD)
Having visited the Eastern Front to gauge the progress of his legions - exasperatingly, period-practice in Russia has yet to take root - the FW-220 Condor of Ernst Hogwood-Blofeld, the head of SPECTRE (Sinister Period Practice Enacted to Counter Traditional Readings Everlastingly) was sitting on the tarmac at Smolensk in readiness for take-off. One of the adjutants, Simon Standage, was about to board the aircraft when he was tapped on the shoulder. It was William Christie, otherwise known as Number Forty Three.
"Hi Simon. It's a long haul to Berlin - to say nothing of the second leg back to the hollowed-out volcano. Here's something that our Leader, Number One, might enjoy on the flight."
He handed over a newly minted copy of his Erato performance of the Mass in C Minor. Standage amiably gave him a thumbs up and boarded the plane. Soon afterwards it took off and headed westwards accompanied by a fighter-escort. Christie hurried back to his car and quickly called his fellow conspirator Reinhard Goebel (the cobweb spider of the period practice scene).
"Comrade, once the Condor disintegrates over Minsk, it will be time to unleash Operation Valkyrie: our takeover of SPECTRE."
"What makes you so damned sure this is going to work?" RG hissed.
"Have you heard the performance itself? It is nauseatingly prim. It makes the Leader's own performance of K 427 seem like mid-70s Karajan
Mozart - Great Mass in C Minor / Augér, Dawson, Ainsley, Thomas, AAM, Hogwood. It is vibrato-less - absolutely vibrato-less. It might as well be Rameau. Petibon is a fine enough singer but not here: she has more bulges to her line than Oprah's silhouette. Even I am scared to listen to her in the Kyrie with all of her cooing, yawps and billowy screeches. In the Et Incarnatus Est, she sounds like a cat on heat. The performance itself is shorn of grandeur and anything vaguely resembling a human emotion. This is Mozart writ small. Trust me: the cabin will surely depressurise when they hear this frigid performance on the plane. The pilot will lose consciousness and a crash will ensue."
For the next few hours the conspirators nervously stared at the clock. Come twilight, word filtered through that the Condor had landed uneventfully in Berlin. Christie's mobile rang. Glumly he answered it.
"Hi William, it's Simon here. I have a message for you from Number One."
Christie held his breath.
"What is it?"
"Our Leader really loved your bloodless performance. It's period-practice taken to extremes. Henceforth consider yourself Number Forty Two. Now we need you in Russia. You have one week to relocate from your princely apartment in Paris to take the reins of the Kamchatka Baroque Soloists. SPECTRE expects every man to do this duty."
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