BaL 12.11.22 - Haydn: Harmoniemesse

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Richard Wigmore chooses his favourite recording of Joseph Haydn’s Harmoniemesse in B flat.

In 1802, when Haydn completed the Harmoniemesse (having, as he put it, “toiled wearily and laboriously”), the 70-year-old was acknowledged as Europe’s greatest living composer. The mass setting, Haydn’s last major completed work, never gained the same popularity as his two late oratorios The Creation and The Seasons. But it has long been recognised as one of Haydn’s supreme achievements into which, despite old age and failing health, he poured a lifetime of experience to create music both fresh and inspiring. The orchestra is the largest Haydn used for any of his six masses and its name comes from its large section of wind (’harmonie’) instruments.


Available versions:-


Maura Moreira, Peter Winberger, Christiane Sorell, Gerhard Eder, Vienna Academy Chamber Choir, Vienna State Opera Orchestra, George Barati *

Judith Blegen, Kenneth Riegel, Frederica von Stade, Simon Estes, Westminster Choir, New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Leonard Bernstein *

Sumner Thompson, Jeremy Budd, Catherine Wyn-Rogers, Mireille Asselin, Handel and Haydn Society Chorus, Handel and Haydn Society Orchestra, Harry Christophers

Ilona Tokody, Klára Takács, Dénes Gulyás, József Gregor, Slovak Philharmonic Chorus and Orchestra, János Ferencsik

Joanne Lunn, Angharad Gruffydd Jones, Sara Mingardo, Topi Lehtipuu, Brindley Sherratt, Andrew Busher, Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists, John Eliot Gardiner

Kirsten Sollek, Nacole Palmer, Nina Faia, Matthew Hensrud, Andrew Nolen, Daniel Mutlu, Trinity Choir & REBEL Baroque Orchestra, Jane Glover

Ines Siedlaczek, Bettina Ranch, Tobias Hunger, Tobias Berndt, Reußisches Kammerorchester, Kammerchor der Frauenkirche Dresden, Matthias Grünert

Erna Spoorenberg (soprano), Helen Watts, Alexander Young, Joseph Rouleau, Brian Runnet, Choir of St. John’s College, Cambridge, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, George Guest *

Concentus musicus Wien, Arnold Schoenberg Chor, Nikolaus Harnoncourt *

Barbara Martig-Tüller, Ria Bollen, Adalbert Krau, Kurt Widmer.Bachchor Mainz & Sinfonieorchester des Südwestfunks, Diethard Hellmann

Nancy Argenta, Pamela Helen Stephen, Mark Padmore, Stephen Varcoe, Collegium Musicum 90, Richard Hickox

Lynda Russell, Catherine Wyn-Rogers, William Kendall, Michael George, Brandenburg Orchestra, Choir of Winchester Cathedral, David Hill

Malin Hartelius, Judith Schmid, Christian Elsner, Franz-Josef Selig, Michaela Knab, Bernhard Schneider, Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Mariss Jansons (SACD/DVD)

Maja Roodveldt, Corrie Pronk, Andreas Gisler, Marc Pantus, Netherlands Bach Ensemble, Krijn Koetsveld *

Harry van der Kamp, Christoph Prégardien, Sandra Piau, Monica Groop, La Petite Bande, Choeur de Chambre de Namur Sigiswald Kuijken

Stephan MacLeod, Sunhae Im, Bernhard Berchtold, Britta Schwarz, Nina Unden, Wolfgang Klose, Kölner Kammerorchester, Cologne Cathedral Choir, Helmut Müller-Brühl *

Daniela Sindram, Simona �aturová, James Taylor, Michael Nagy, Gächinger Kantorei, Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR, Helmuth Rilling


(* = download only)

[smittims]

Some wonderful singers listed there. I've always felt Maura Moreira and Erna Spoorenberg underrated and wish they'd recorded more. Moreira was on a Turnabout disc of Wagner and some rare Schumann, and Spoorenberg sang Melisande on the second Ansermet recording.

[gurnemanz]

I only have one recording on CD, which I acquired only a few years via the recommendable and well-priced Naxos Complete Haydn Masses box:

The New York based Trinity Choir & Rebel Baroque Orchestra under Jane Glover. A dynamic and vivid-sounding rendition which I would have thought should make any shortlist.

I see the box is on special offer at Presto

[Pulcinella]

Guest and Hickox here, both as part of box sets.
Not sure I've ever listened to it/them, though, so I must remedy that soon.

[MickyD]

Missing on the list is the version by Bruno Weil on Sony, which I like very much.

[RichardB]

Missing on the list is the version by Bruno Weil on Sony, which I like very much.

Once more we find ourselves in complete agreement. I don't think the Weil recording is available at the moment though. There's a set of Haydn choral works conducted by Weil that has the Schöpfung and various masses but it doesn't contain the Harmoniemesse for some strange reason. The latter is also not listed separately on Qobuz.

[Bryn]

Once more we find ourselves in complete agreement. I don't think the Weil recording is available at the moment though. There's a set of Haydn choral works conducted by Weil that has the Schöpfung and various masses but it doesn't contain the Harmoniemesse for some strange reason. The latter is also not listed separately on Qobuz.

I have it in the 4-CD Late Masses box. Strangely, it was not included in either of the 60-CD Vivarte boxed sets.

[MickyD]

Once more we find ourselves in complete agreement. I don't think the Weil recording is available at the moment though. There's a set of Haydn choral works conducted by Weil that has the Schöpfung and various masses but it doesn't contain the Harmoniemesse for some strange reason. The latter is also not listed separately on Qobuz.

As usual Richard, it's the crisp boys' voices that win me over; yes, very odd that the Vivarte box didn't include the Harmoniemesse. I had to track it down on a separate disc, which also contains the so-called "Schopfungsmesse" (no.11 Hob. XXII 13 of 1801).

I didn't realise that Weil also did the late masses, Bryn...have just seen them on Amazon, but the price is obscene!

It's strange also that he doesn't appear to have done some of the other masses - the St Nicolai and Caeciliae etc. Do you know if he did?

It's all a bit of a mess from Sony - they all deserve to be grouped together in one big box.

[BBMmk2]

Oh, I have the Richard Hickox Haydn Mass Edition, and his recording of the Harmoniemesse is not mentioned, as far as I could see. I have that classic George Guest one, in that box set.

[RichardB]

Oh, I have the Richard Hickox Haydn Mass Edition, and his recording of the Harmoniemesse is not mentioned, as far as I could see.

Look more closely!

[Bryn]

As usual Richard, it's the crisp boys' voices that win me over; yes, very odd that the Vivarte box didn't include the Harmoniemesse. I had to track it down on a separate disc, which also contains the so-called "Schopfungsmesse" (no.11 Hob. XXII 13 of 1801).

I didn't realise that Weil also did the late masses, Bryn...have just seen them on Amazon, but the price is obscene! . . .

https://www.discogs.com/sell/release/12001361?ev=rb

[Cockney Sparrow]

Or, if you don't have other Weil Haydn Mass recordings, this 5 CD set on Brilliant Classics :

https://www.discogs.com/sell/release/16463898?ev=rb

[RichardB]

Discogs is all very well and we already know that Weil's recording of this work exists, the question was is it actually available at present in any of its incarnations, and it seems to me that the answer is no.

[Master Jacques]

Discogs is all very well and we already know that Weil's recording of this work exists, the question was is it actually available at present in any of its incarnations, and it seems to me that the answer is no.

Enthused by the comments on Weil's Haydn mass recordings, I've just this minute bought the complete Brilliant set, new on eBay - £11.88, postage free, from Holland. So it can be had, as well as in streaming form on a variety of platforms. And as we know, if it streams it's up for BaL!

[Cockney Sparrow]

Discogs is all very well and we already know that Weil's recording of this work exists, the question was is it actually available at present in any of its incarnations, and it seems to me that the answer is no.

nla from Brilliant Classics but the 5CD set is shown as available via a Discogs seller for £16 delivered to the UK. (7 sets for sale, £16 is the cheapest).