Getting right to the point, you won’t find any great works among this collection of very basic, functional, German church hymns, anthems, and service music. You could say that much of it is charming, inasmuch as it often adopts the style of south-German/Austrian folk music (even the organ accompaniments sometimes have an oom-pah character), but as pure listening, it’s also often boring, Michael Haydn’s Deutsche Messe, in particular, its purpose being not to entertain or awe but to be easily accessible to 18th-century Salzburg cathedral congregants.
However, there are some pieces well worth hearing–and even a few that show the promise of greater things, including Haydn’s very affecting O vos omnes and Tenebrae factae sunt, both for unaccompanied SATB choir, the former presented here in its world-premiere appearance on disc. Leopold Mozart’s Kyrie and Gloria from a Missa brevis in C also are interesting bits of period church music that reveal the work of a skilled contrapuntalist. And speaking of promise, even in the several very early pieces by Leopold’s illustrious son, we note the young composer’s unusual facility in combining a happy spirit, good tunes, and sacred texts, adding some harmonic or rhythmic twist to keep the music interesting.
As for the performances, it’s impossible to fault the blend, balance, singing technique, or sincerity of the Vienna Chamber Choir and organist Robert Kovács, who deliver clearly articulated, sensitively phrased renditions of these rarely-heard works. And the sound, from Vienna’s Hofburgkapelle, is fully complementary to the voices and instrument. Haydn may get top billing here (and there are several world-premieres among those selections), but the Mozarts offer the more ingratiating listening.
