Review - Haydn Harmoniemesse and Mozart Great Mass in C minor
For their Spring Concert this year, the Aberdeen Bach Choir, under their director Paul Tierney, chose two superbly scintillating Masses by two of the most celebrated composers of the Classical Period. These were Haydn’s Mass No.14 in B flat major the Harmoniemesse 1802, and in the second half of the concert, Mozart’s ‘Great’ Mass in c minor, K427 1783. As a result of the way music is taught in schools, there is a tendency to imagine Mozart as coming after Haydn, but as you will notice, Mozart’s Mass was composed some nineteen years before Haydn’s Harmoniemesse. This is because Mozart died in 1791 at the age of 35 while Haydn lived on until 1809 at the age of 77. We should also notice that as the excellent programme note explained, the title Harmoniemesse refers to the large number of wind instruments for which the Mass is scored, thus the title in English, Wind Band Mass.
As the players of the Sinfonietta began Haydn’s Mass, you could hear the tones of the woodwinds coming through, but I should insist that the Sinfonietta strings played splendidly with vim and verve, at the opening, and fairly much throughout the work. As the opening Kyrie for voices began, the baritone soloist Niall Anderson gave the music a powerful starting thrust with his strong smooth singing. The opening of the Haydn Mass is jubilant, celebratory actually, and the same was true of the end, with the brass, full choir and running strings delivering the words Dona nobis pacem.
In the Kyrie, the Bach Choir gave us marvellous smooth well balanced choral singing, fairly bubbling with enthusiasm. Some of the vocal solos like the soprano solo in the Gloria were bright and momentous if rather short. The same was true of the fine duet for tenor and bass in the Credo. It was the chorus that came through with a sense of exuberance, driving the movement onward. Some composers tend to linger on the words of the Credo making it, dare I say, tiresome. But not Haydn and not Dr Tierney and his Bach choir.
In the Sanctus Paul Tierney made the choral singing flow nicely. The Benedictus was glowingly colourful with a sense of festivity coming from both the choir and orchestra. Here the quartet of vocal soloists really came into their own with rousing properly balanced singing – absolutely delightful.
In the Agnus Dei the quartet were supported by pizzicato lower strings and free-flowing upper strings. As I said, this led into a finale which did have no more than a moment of gentleness mirroring the idea of pacem, but choir and orchestra were thoroughly rousing and joyful lifting the spirits of the audience so that we applauded with fervour.
Mozart’s ‘Great’ Mass in c minor begins very differently from Haydn’s Kyrie. As the programme note said, it has grandeur but considerable seriousness as well. Is there not an element of the symphonist in the way Haydn uses the orchestra in his Harmoniemesse there is so much imagination there? In Mozart’s Mass, I know it is an oratorio, but his writing for the female soloists made me think of Mozart the opera composer. Yes indeed, Diana Damrau famous for her Queen of the Night has recorded solos from Mozart’s Mass in c minor. Of the four singers who made up the quartet in the Harmoniemesse two of them, soprano Emma Morwood and mezzo Lotte Betts-Dean were given the most extravagant solos and duets in Mozart’s Mass. Here was the most florid and virtuoso coloratura singing driven to its limits. In the Kyrie, Emma Morwood has extraordinary low notes which then leap to the heights. Lotte Betts-Dean captured all the florid excitement of her Laudamus Te and these two sopranos were magnificently together in their lively and joyful Domine Deus. They were joined in Quonium tu solus sanctus by tenor Elgan Llŷr Thomas but compared to the two girls, he is not given much to sing. Baritone Niall Anderson had to wait until the Benedictus at the end of the work before having a chance to sing again. What a pity because he was very good. The Bach Choir do get some excellent singing in Mozart’s Mass, in fact there were double choruses which is why the choir were arranged in two separate blocks on the stage. The Miserere came across splendidly from both choir and orchestra. Soprano Emma Morwood in her solo Et incarnatus est was supported beautifully by Margaret Preston on flute and Geoffrey Bridge on oboe and then the bassoon came in splendidly as well. There was double choir in both the Sanctus and Benedictus. In thinking of the Benedictus, I should not forget to mention the organist David Gerrard. Especially in the Mozart, the sound of the organ nicely topped off the orchestral sound several times.
The two Masses are very different, but both are magnificent in their own contrasting ways. Both were performed charismatically by the Bach choir and their fantastic soloists.
Alan Cooper
