Cherubini: Messe Solenelle; Haydn: Paukenmesse / Rilling, Bach Collegium

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Music reviews of Cherubini: Messe Solenelle; Haydn: Paukenmesse / Rilling, Bach Collegium

Music Review: Cherubini Gets a New Lease on Life
Rating: 5 Stars

While the liner notes to the Somary recording gloated over the fact that Cherubini's mass is, at over 70 minutes, longer than Beethoven's Missa Solemnis written a decade later, that of course would mean little if Cherubini's effort weren't a strong and sustained one. And it is, though never matching the intensity and power of Beethoven's work. But Cherubini's mass has its own stong points. After the rather somber Kyrie, the Gloria is a heady movement with great elan. The same can be said of the Cum Sancto Spiritu fugue and the Amen, as well put together as the same sections in Haydn's justly famous masses. Drive and grandeur both mark the Resurrexit and Sanctus. But many of the more intimate movements are marked by a solemn beauty that is just as powerful, especially the Crucifixus, with its restlessly swirling string figurations and the equally unsettled Qui Tolis. Perhaps the Dona Nobis is rather light for a work with so much solemn gradeur, but this is the only misstep, I think, in a work that clearly deserves to be heard.

The performance strikes me as a very fine one, the chorus and orchestra both well drilled and well led by Rilling, who chooses throughly apt tempi and dynamics. Among the soloists, the Americans Pamela Coburn and Martin Thompson stand out with ardent yet, when needed, ethereal presences.

The Haydn is quite a good performance as well, though perhaps not in the outstanding class. Still, the well-sustained Agnus Dei and the joyous Dona Nobis make a very strong case for this performance, and as a make-weight to Cherubini, who revered Haydn, the Paukenmesse is a perfect choice.

The recording is a very fine one, nicely handling the more intimate music in an obviously spacious spacious venue that lends gradeur to the bigger moments of both works.

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