Mozart: Mass in C minor (2010)

by Andrew Schwartz (bassoon), Christopher Krueger (flute), Gillian Keith (soprano), Marc Schachman (oboe), Nathan Berg (bass baritone), Thomas Cooley (tenor), Tove Dahlberg (mezzo-soprano), Handel & Haydn Society (choir, chorus)

This album marks the recording debut of British conductor Harry Christophers with Boston's Handel & Haydn Society, and it looks as though the pairing has involved some beneficial stretching on both sides. For the chorus and orchestra, it's a bid for prominence matching the organization's venerable status. Founded in 1815, and once having commissioned a piece from Beethoven (he never delivered it), the group rests at the apex of the Boston musical family tree but has been only spottily represented on recordings. For ... Read More

This album marks the recording debut of British conductor Harry Christophers with Boston's Handel & Haydn Society, and it looks as though the pairing has involved some beneficial stretching on both sides. For the chorus and orchestra, it's a bid for prominence matching the organization's venerable status. Founded in 1815, and once having commissioned a piece from Beethoven (he never delivered it), the group rests at the apex of the Boston musical family tree but has been only spottily represented on recordings. For Christophers the partnership likewise represented new challenges: a larger and somewhat more unwieldy group than his handpicked Sixteen in Britain, and the American system of private musical patronage, which, if you want to talk about historical authenticity, is closer to what Mozart had to deal with than anything in Britain these days would be. The first thing that may strike fans of the Sixteen is how different this recording sounds from the smooth choral releases that have carved out a... Read Less