These earnest, dull performances, with mushy timpani and recessed trumpets in the Nelson Mass, are typical of what you might hear from a competent but uninspiring choral conductor ca. 1980. In the wake of the period-instrument movement, and recordings such as Pinnock’s (Archiv), it’s very difficult to see the point in this reissue despite attractive solo singing from Krisztina Laki in the Mass’s Kyrie. We feel this music differently now, or at least we should, with its inherent drama and eruptive energy restored. Frieder Bernius remains old-school, soft, heavy, and “churchy”, even in the militant Benedictus, and if this is the way you like the work, then by all means indulge. The two shorter pieces are attractive and of course skillfully made, though in the Ave Maria Inge Nielsen’s voice is too forward, and too brightly lit. Please, Profil, stop reissuing discs just because you can and no one else has: life is too short.
