BaL 22.03.14 - Mozart's Coronation Mass

[Beef Oven!]

Mine too. A few minor blemishes on the surface of the disc but it ripped faultlessly with EAC. The 37p Kertész Respighi disc also arrived, in similarly acceptable condition.

Yes, mine had a blemish on the non-play side of the disc, and likewise, it ripped faultlessly.

[Barbirollians]

I am with Gardiner in the C Minor Mass and the Requiem - indeed the latter is I think Gardiner's very finest record.

[MickyD]

Yes, the Gardiner is good...but if you like the sound of boy's voices in the choir (as I do), then the Hogwood is the one to go for.

[Bryn]

By the way, please note that the 2014 'First Choice' re-issue of the Pinnock is not only appears to be available for less than the previous issue, it also offers "exclusive" access to a recording of Symphony 25, presumably an mp3 download.

This disc arrived today. The bonuses (downloading which requires the temporary enabling of Java Deployment Toolkit) are a zip of 320 kbps mp3s of K183 and a pdf of the original K317/165/339 disc's booklet (the 'First Choice' booklet has different programme notes).

[DoctorT]

The Pinnock recording arrived a couple of days ago. Reminds me why Barbara Bonney is one of my favourite singers

[Beef Oven!]

Currently going very cheap at Amazon, Beefy!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mozart-Mass-...t+c+minor+mass

MickyD

After quite a few listens to the snippets on Amazon, I've gone for the Gardiner in the C Minor Mass, over the Hogwood. It sounds more alive and vibrant. I know it's not possible to have a fully-formed view from snippets, but I'm going with my reaction all the same!

Cheers

Beef Oven!

[Tony Halstead]

MickyD

After quite a few listens to the snippets on Amazon, I've gone for the Gardiner in the C Minor Mass, over the Hogwood. It sounds more alive and vibrant. I know it's not possible to have a fully-formed view from snippets, but I'm going with my reaction all the same!

Cheers

Beef Oven!

Now I'm getting confused.... I thought we were discussing the Coronation Mass in C major not c minor
Incidentally I listened yesterday to the 'recommended' Pinnock version and although the singing is superb ( and superbly recorded), the orchestral sound is absurdly 'skewed' in a way you would never hear in either a concert hall or a church.
I know from experience that Mr Pinnock 'likes his trumpets' but on this recording they are heard - almost comically 'in yer face', 'razzing and rasping' at every opportunity. Those trumpeters are fine players so I can only blame the recording technique ( or lack of technique) which simultaneously places the horns so that they only occasionally emerge as if from a gloomy subterranean cavern.

[Beef Oven!]

Now I'm getting confused.... I thought we were discussing the Coronation Mass in C major not c minor
Incidentally I listened yesterday to the 'recommended' Pinnock version and although the singing is superb ( and superbly recorded), the orchestral sound is absurdly 'skewed' in a way you would never hear in either a concert hall or a church.
I know from experience that Mr Pinnock 'likes his trumpets' but on this recording they are heard - almost comically 'in yer face', 'razzing and rasping' at every opportunity. Those trumpeters are fine players so I can only blame the recording technique ( or lack of technique) which simultaneously places the horns so that they only occasionally emerge as if from a gloomy subterranean cavern.

MickyD did an 'if you liked that, how about this', and recommended Hogwood/AAM's C Minor.

[MickyD]

Don't worry, Beefy, you go with what you are most comfortable with! I will confess to being a long-standing Hogwood fan, so am rather biased. But for the C minor Mass, his version clinches it for me because of the clear sound of the boy choristers, and I've always been a huge enthusiast of the sound the Decca engineers got for the L'Oiseau Lyre recordings. I'm sure the Gardiner is very fine, hope you get a lot of pleasure out of it. It is a wonderful work.

[Barbirollians]

Don't worry, Beefy, you go with what you are most comfortable with! I will confess to being a long-standing Hogwood fan, so am rather biased. But for the C minor Mass, his version clinches it for me because of the clear sound of the boy choristers, and I've always been a huge enthusiast of the sound the Decca engineers got for the L'Oiseau Lyre recordings. I'm sure the Gardiner is very fine, hope you get a lot of pleasure out of it. It is a wonderful work.

The Gardiner is very good indeed - a young Sylvia McNair in fine voice .

[MickyD]

I have one or two McNair discs, when she worked with Gardiner and Hogwood...is she still singing, I wonder? I don't seem to hear of her now.

[Barbirollians]

I think she has largely become a singer of Gershwin and Sondheim and the like judging by her website.

[Tony Halstead]

I think she has largely become a singer of Gershwin and Sondheim and the like judging by her website.

That's a great shame ( no disrespect to Gershwin & Sondheim) as I do remember that in the Gardiner projects in which I was privileged to take part, McNair's voice had a 'classical purity' but also a sort of appealing and very human 'fragility', all of which contributed to her sublime singing of the 'Et Incarnatus Est' in the C minor mass.
IMHO this is one of the two finest on record, the other one being by the legendary Teresa Stich-Randall, who in the 1950s-60s was - in her own way - 'doing' HIPP before most of the current HIPP luminaries were even born!

[vinteuil]

... if anyone is looking to pick up the Hogwood Coronation in C plus the Great in c min really cheaply - I see that you can get the classic fm CD of this for seventeen pence (plus postage) on amazon...


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http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0027CAQNU

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[Dave2002]

... if anyone is looking to pick up the Hogwood Coronation in C plus the Great in c min really cheaply - I see that you can get the classic fm CD of this for seventeen pence (plus postage) on amazon...


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http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0027CAQNU

Nice one, though is it really so difficult to find now? I saw a whole bunch of these CFM discs in a still functioning HMV shop recently - though not sure if that particular issue is still available. If I go there again I'll look out for it.

Probably isn't still available - see the catalogue - http://www.classicfm.com/shop/cds/2-...for-10-at-hmv/