Mozart: Mass in C Minor, KV 427 / Arman, Bavarian Radio Choir, Berlin Akademie fur Alte Musik
BR Klassik
CD
$29.99Nov 02, 2018
Written in 1782, Mozart's Mass in C minor - although incomplete – ranks as one of the outstanding Mass settings in European music history. The very recent reconstruction/completion of the Mass by Clemens Kemme in the spring of 2018 confines itself to the original sources, avoiding any arbitrary additions. The work was recorded in this critically acclaimed version for the Bayerischer Rundfunk during the summer of 2018, and conducted by Howard Arman. This album is thus the first recording of the definitive version of this new and intelligently edited reconstruction of Mozart's Mass in C minor. An introduction to the work is also included, enabling this masterpiece to be approached from new perspectives. In Vienna in the summer of 1782, Mozart started writing a new Mass despite having apparently received no commission to do so. On August 4, 1782 he married Constanze Mozart, and from his correspondence it appears that he had made himself a promise to “have a newly-composed mass performed in Salzburg if he brought her there as his wife.” The work may have been performed on October 26, 1783 in St. Peter's Church in Salzburg, with Constanze as the soprano soloist; concrete evidence of such a performance is however lacking. Nevertheless, the Mass can probably be seen as a kind of votive offering for Constanze. The fact that the work was not completed may be due to the church music reforms implemented by the Emperor Joseph II, who preferred sacred music to be performed on a smaller scale. In 1785, Mozart eventually reworked the “Kyrie" and "Gloria" from the mass for his cantata Davide penitente.
MOZART: Mass No. 18 in C minor, K. 427, 'Great' / Kyrie in D
Naxos
CD
$13.99$19.99Save 30%Oct 01, 2000
The Mass in C minor reflects Mozart's current preoccupation with the music of Handel and Johann Sebastian Bach, explored with the encouragement of Baron van Swieten, an important patron. The work is scored for pairs of oboes, bassoons, horns, trumpets and timpani, with three trombones, strings and organ continuo. After a brief orchestral introduction, the four vocal sections enter in contrapuntal imitation and the movement continues in the monumental and generally conservative style that the Salzburg Archbishop would certainly have discouraged. The soprano soloist introduces the florid Italianate Christe eleison and the contrapuntal choral texture is resumed with the return of the Kyrie. The Gloria opens in affirmative C major, leading almost at once to energetic fugal writing, relaxing momentarily at the words pax hominibus bonae voluntatis (peace to men of good will). Laudamus te is in F major, marked Allegro aperto. It is scored for solo soprano, oboes, horns and strings and is in operatic style. Trombones and bassoons return for the A minor Adagio of Gratias agimus tibi, now with a five-part choir. To this the D minor Domine Deus, Rex caelestis, scored for strings and two soprano soloists, offers an immediate contrast. In Salzburg the second soprano would presumably have been sung by one of the castrati employed by the court musical establishment. There is a return to a more traditional Baroque style in the solid dotted rhythms of the G minor Qui tollis peccata mundi, for two four-part choirs with the full orchestra. The two soprano soloists are joined by a solo tenor for the E minor setting of Quoniam tu solus Dominus, scored without trombones or horns. The solo voices enter in energetic contrapuntal imitation, over which the spirit of Handel seems to loom, seen through a Mozartian prism. There is a brief C major choral Adagio for the words Jesu Christe, before the splendid formal Baroque fugal setting of Cum Sancto Spiritu, in the same key. The unfinished Credo starts with a movement for five-part choir, scored without trombones.
Mozart: Missa in C Minor, K. 427 "Great Mass" / Bernius, Kammerchor Stuttgart
Carus
CD
$20.99Feb 03, 2017
There can be no doubt – the Missa in C minor KV 427 by W.A.Mozart is a fascinating work. Simply calling it a “mass” is inaccurate; indeed, there is hardly more than a musical torso full of enigmas and problems – and brimming with magnificent music. What has survived is a fragment, in more ways than one. Mozart left the work unfinished; moreover parts of the autograph have been lost. Carus has now produced a new edition which is not only based upon a profound knowledge of Mozart’s music and the church music practice of that time, but also meets with the current demands of performance practice. Frieder Bernius is the co-editor of the sheet music edition; he and his Stuttgart Chamber Choir recorded this version. The album impresses with its outstanding musical quality, as well as with its quality of its recording. In addition to the new version of the mass, the release also contains a bonus track with the Credo fragment without completed instrumental parts. This album is a true discovery!
This second album of Mozart’s complete Masses (Volume 1 is on 8.574370) pairs one work of exceptional dimensions and ambition with a miniature example. The ‘Great’ Mass in C minor is one of Mozart’s most spectacular and cast on such a scale that it embraces every human and spiritual emotion, reconciling the Salzburg tradition with that of Italian opera. The Mass was left incomplete by Mozart– it is heard here in a performing version made by the German musicologist and Mozart specialist Franz Beyer. By comparison the Missa brevis in C major exudes a spirit of festive concision.
Mozart: Mass in C minor / Christophers, Handel & Haydn Society
Coro
CD
$10.49$20.99Save 50%Aug 31, 2010
This recording of Mozart’s Mass in C minor features Harry Christophers in his role as Artistic Director and conductor of the Handel and Haydn Society - America’s oldest continuously performing orchestra and chorus. Mozart’s Mass in C minor needs little introduction - one of the best-known and most widely performed of the composer’s mass settings, it is generally considered to be one of his greatest works and, as such, is often referred to as the ‘Great Mass’. It is a remarkable union of musical vision and religious text and draws on Mozart’s skill for drama that made his operatic works such a phenomenal success.
Mozart: Mass in C Minor / Minkowski, Les Musiciens du Louvre
PENTATONE
CD
$19.99Aug 14, 2020
Marc Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre present a new recording of Mozart’s Mass in C Minor, the iconic opening Kyrie of which is among the most cherished religious music ever written. Mozart performed parts of the Mass in 1783, but the score remained unfinished, making the use of a scholarly edition necessary for a complete performance. Despite its unfinished state, Mozart’s Mass in C Minor has gained popularity and now enjoys a place in the choral core repertory. For this recording, made in connection to live performances, Minkowski has chosen Helmut Eder’s 1985 edition for the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe. He performs it in a chamber-like setting with his regular ensemble Les Musiciens du Louvre, a small ripieno choir and four outstanding soloists: Ana Maria Labin, Ambroisine Bré, Stanislas de Barbeyrac and Norman Patzke. Since its foundation in 1982, and under the baton of its founder and musical director Marc Minkowski, Les Musiciens du Louvre have developed into one of the world’s best period-instrument ensembles, with a vast discography. This recording marks their PENTATONE debut.
Mozart: Mass in C Minor; C.P.E. Bach: Heilig ist Gott / Butt, Dunedin Consort
Linn Records
CD
$15.99$20.99Save 25%Oct 06, 2023
Following a highly anticipated televised performance at the 2023 BBC Proms, Dunedin Consort and its director John Butt now release Mozart’s ‘Great’ Mass in C minor and Carl Phillip Emmanuel Bach’s Heilig ist Gott on Linn. Devised to celebrate his marriage to Constanze, but left unfinished at the composer’s death, Mozart’s Mass can clearly be traced back to the choral writing of Johann Sebastian Bach and his son, Carl Phillip Emmanuel. This musical genealogy is displayed here in a lavish double-chorus, double-orchestra feast where both works echo each other. No stranger to Mozart – the ensemble’s recording of the Requiem was a Gramophone Award Winner and Grammy-nominated – Dunedin Consort puts its stamp on these most spectacular contributions to church music.
The Mass in C minor for 5 voices by Francesco Maria Zuccari is included in this priceless collection and is heard here in it's absolute world premiere recording. The piece was first drafted in Assisi in 1723, when Zuccari was Kapellmeister, with a second version with instruments being drafted in 1745, when the musician was first organist at the Santo. The work has, however, presumably not been performed again since that year. The Magnificat in F major also hails from Assisi. It was composed in 1725 and revised later in Padova in 1748. In this recording, the ensemble uses Vallotti's typical tuning, which favors the use of flats and limits the interval of the fifth, showing a greater precision in the interval of third. The Orchestra Barocca di Cremona, conducted by Giovanni Battista Columbro, performs here on original instruments.
Mozart: Complete Masses, Vol. 6 - Mass in C Major, "Credo";
Naxos
CD
$19.99Jun 13, 2025
Mozart provided a steady output of Masses during his time at the court in Salzburg. The fine Missa brevis in G major was composed in 1768 when Mozart was just twelve years old. The theatrical and inventive 'Credo' Mass in C major, from 1776, is regarded as one of Mozart's finest achievements from this period. The profound key of D minor for the Missa brevis, K. 65 reflects it's use at a 40-hour vigil, while the affectionate nickname 'Spatzenmesse' ('Sparrow Mass') for the Missa brevis in C major refers to the chirping nature of the Sanctus.
Mozart: Great Mass in C Minor & Exsultate jubilate / Suzuki, Bach Collegium Japan
BIS
SACD
$21.99Dec 09, 2016
Following on the 2015 release of Mozart’s Requiem, Masaaki Suzuki and his Bach Collegium Japan has gone on to record the composers Mass in C minor, K427 – the ‘Great Mass’. As the nickname indicates it is a work of unusual proportions for a mass of the Classical period – or would have been so, had Mozart completed it. It is not known for what occasion Mozart intended the work, but a letter to his father Leopold dated 4 January 1783 indicate that he may have committed himself to writing it in connection with his marriage to Constanze and a planned visit to Salzburg. A performance of parts of the Mass did take place in Salzburg in October 1783, with Constanze performing the prominent soprano part. Two years later Mozart reused the music from the Kyrie and Gloria sections in the sacred cantata Davidde penitente, K?469, but the Mass itself was left incomplete. The present performance includes the sections completed by Mozart himself, as well as those sections for which extensive sketches by Mozart provided a basis for completion (by Franz Beyer in 1989). Three of Suzuki’s soloists also took part in the recording of the Requiem, while the Dutch mezzo-soprano Olivia Vermeulen makes her first appearance on BIS, shining in the aria Laudamus te. The disc closes with the celebrated cantata Exsultate, jubilate in which the soprano Carolyn Sampson glitters in the virtuosic solo part. As an appendix to the programme she and the Bach Collegium Japan orchestra also repeats the initial aria, in a less well-known later version with a slightly different text and with flutes replacing the oboes of the original.
