Had this disc not arrived at the same time as Hänssler’s superior recording of the Missa Cellensis, it might have made a better impression. Then again, maybe not. Richard Hickox offers lively tempos and the chorus sings well, but soprano Susan Gritton remains a major liability (the “Quoniam” aria in the Gloria taxes her technique and her basic tone simply isn’t attractive). Additionally, the playing of Collegium Musicum 90 sounds uncommitted, with underplayed trumpets, excessively thick strings, and scarcely a woodwind to be found. The ample acoustic casts a pall of reverberation that muffles the work of the chorus even more, compromising the clarity of the great fugues that conclude the Gloria, Credo, and the final Dona nobis pacem.
This early work, written as a celebratory “cantata Mass”, with multiple movements (as in Bach’s B minor), ought to blaze with energy, especially in the C major sections for full orchestra, but here the lights are dim, the energy level comparatively low despite the overall swiftness. The coupling, an incomplete Mass fragment containing only a Kyrie and part of a Gloria, adds nothing positive to the proceedings. Hickox’s Haydn Mass cycle for Chandos has been pretty good on the whole, but this entry simply isn’t up to the standard set thus far.
