Review By Jerry Dubins ,Fanfare,July 2011
This marks the end of Morten Schuldt-Jensen’s run of Schubert’s six numbered masses for Naxos.
For Schubert, the A♭-Major Mass had an unusually long gestation, seven years in total if one counts an 1826 revision he made in the hope that it would secure him a position at the Imperial Court Chapel. It didn’t. Said to be the composer’s own favorite among his Latin Masses, it represents, according to All Music Guide, “probably the finest and most perfectly balanced fusion of traditional sacred style with Schubert’s own radiant songfulness and astonishing inventiveness among the composer’s choral pieces.”
Not published and possibly not performed in the composer’s lifetime, the A♭-Mass has an ethereal quality about it, a sweetness and calmness that recall Schubert’s earlier G-Major Mass (No. 2), but operating on a far more sophisticated harmonic and orchestral level. The vocal soloists and choristers seem to emerge from the orchestra as if they are instruments coming from within the orchestral fabric, while the orchestral parts seem to emerge from the chorus as if they are voices coming from within the choral tapestry. Much of the music has a delicate refinement to it that the later E♭-Major Mass doesn’t. Necessarily, of course, major portions of the Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and concluding Dona nobis pacem, by dint of liturgical context, are of a noisier, more celebratory character. Does this make the A♭-Mass Schubert’s finest? I don’t know, but it does make it his most heartbreaking, for he worked on it so long and hard only to have it, like so many of his other efforts, come to naught. If one believes in such things, Schubert really was born under an unlucky star.
If he’s listening, this performance should salve his soul. It’s quite lovely in affect and atmosphere, not to mention being well sung and well played. The vocal soloists, a young but far from green bunch, handle their solo and ensemble singing with earnest concentration, soprano Trine Wilsberg being much improved over her appearance in the last reviewed release of the F Major (No. 1) and B♭-Major (No. 3) Masses. The Immortal Bach choristers are reliably together, on pitch, and alert in their entries. And the Leipzig Chamber Orchestra, a group of 22 players as it appears in the booklet photo, is capable of sounding quite robust when called upon to respond with force in the more dynamic passages. The recording too is quite clean and clear. The muddied diction problem I complained of in Fanfare 34:4 is not an issue here.
…one is grateful to have this new version with Schuldt-Jensen and company.
Recommended.
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Review By Philip Greenfield,American Record Guide,July 2011
…my verdict is somewhat mixed. It is not screechy in any way, nor do I feel a musicological chill in the air. To the contrary, the performance sports a fair amount of grace and charm. The Kyrie, for example, catches a lovely spiritual flow, and it’s hard not to smile when the hunting horns pop out for the ‘Hosanna in excelsis’ interludes later in the Mass. When things do plop down to earth, it’s because important contrapuntal passages fail to take off under this conductor’s care. The most notable example is the ‘Cum sancto spiritu’ fugue, which should finish off the Gloria with tremendous elan but doesn’t. Schuldt-Jensen conducts it like a nun chaperoning a prom, checking for hemlines and respectful distances when a bit of joyous abandon would be just the ticket. What’s ironic is that his take on Schubert’s feisty little Magnificat is an absolute blast. He had some fun in him after all, just not in the happiest, snappiest portion of the liturgy.
But here’s where things get complicated. While Sawallisch’s reading is more exciting (especially in that ‘Cum sancto’ fugue), it’s not the best entry of his set. I think it lacks charm, with its beefy, unsmiling textures and heavy solo voices. Mea culpa, I don’t know any other recordings to recommend. Maybe you should keep both performances handy; begin here, switch to Sawallisch for the Gloria and Credo (which also is admirably dramatic), then finish things off with the last few sections from Schuldt-Jensen and his Immortals. Naxos may not have given us Schubert for the ages, but when it’s good, it’s very good.
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Review By Michael Cookson ,MusicWeb International,March 2011
Schubert wrote a substantial quantity of sacred choral music, including six numbered masses which are rarely played today. Overshadowed by the popularity of works such as his Unfinished, the Great C major, his Lieder, chamber music and solo piano works this inexplicably remains one of his most overlooked genres.
The centrepiece here is the Mass No. 5 for four soloists, choir and orchestra. It’s one of Schubert’s finest sacred choral works. Schubert commenced the score in 1819 working on it over a productive three year period that includes approximately the completion of the Trout Quintet and the composition of the Unfinished. The composer later revised the score considerably over the winter of 1825/26 using it in support of an unsuccessful application for deputy Kapellmeister to the Emperor at the Imperial Court Chapel. Schubert liked to refer to the Mass as his ‘Missa Solemnis’. It was for Schubert a labour of love on which he “spent more time, and more trouble, than over any other single work.” (The Master Musicians: Schubert by John Reed, J.M. Dent, London, 1987 pg.194).
The appealing Kyrie eleison is a generally tender movement with an intense sense of reverence. There is glorious singing from the choir and the woodwind is accorded considerable prominence. In the Gratias agimus tibi I admired the reverential soft focus on the excellent soprano Trine Wilsberg Lund. The movement is variegated with passages of weight and intensity. Alto Bettina Ranch and tenor Min Woo Lim are expressive in the Domine Deus, Agnus Dei with the striking woodwind allowed to shine.
The forward momentum in the Cum Sancto Spiritu is impressive and contains an eloquent part for the choir. Opened by a brass fanfare that is repeated the Credo in unum Deum is a movement with wide dynamics and searing melodies. The singing from the choir in the Et incarnatus est is gravely affecting with the Et resurrexit exuberant and briskly taken by Schuldt-Jensen. The brass-laden Confiteor has an intense outpouring for the choir. The Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus is predominantly dramatic but I was struck by the bucolic feel to the sprightly and very brief Osanna in excelsis.
The trio of soloists make a glorious impression in the Benedictus qui venit. I was delighted at the opening with the soprano and alto being joined the tenor accompanied by notable pizzicato strings. Featuring the quartet of soloists the mood of the Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi is serious and affecting, almost one of mystery. The final section of the Dona nobis pacem was uneventful with rather a quiet mood established.
The splendid Magnificat, D.486 is just one of several precious gems of modest duration to be found in Schubert’s substantial body of sacred choral music. Cast in three movements it is scored for four soloists, choir and orchestra. Schubert&r
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Review By Guy Engels,Pizzicato,March 2011
Schuberts fünfte Vertonung einer lateinischen Messe hat symphonische Dimensionen – sowohl was die Dauer als auch die Struktur anbelangt. Die Herausforderung für die Interpreten besteht darin, Schuberts Melodik, den spirituellen Hintergrund und die symphonische Größe in die rechte Balance zu bringen. Das ist Morten Schuldt- Jensen und seinen Ensembles durchwegs geglückt. Er präsentiert uns einen eher empfindsamen Schubert, der nie romantisch aufbrausend ist. Zudem weiß der Dirigent die Messe auch inhaltlich wunderbar zu gestalten: zurückgenommen, demütig im einleitenden Kyrie, wo um Vergebung gebetet wird; freudvoll und schwungvoll im Lobgesang des Gloria mit einer herrlichen Schlussfuge; dramatisch im Crucifixus-Satz des Credo.
Das Solistenquartett passt stimmlich perfekt zusammen, der Chor singt homogen und transparent, und das Orchester zeigt nach zögerlichem Beginn, dass es auch kraftvoll, intensiv romantisch spielen kann.
Review By David Vernier,ClassicsToday.com,February 2011
If you’re a fan of Schubert’s sacred choral music, this Naxos series, which includes all six Masses and other church works, promises consistently fine performances as good or better than the catalog competition, very well recorded in the complementary acoustics of a Leipzig church. A significant advantage is the presence of the same performing forces throughout the series—and they are solid, well-practiced, and very effective interpreters of this music, which, especially in the earlier works, isn’t always the most dynamic or inventive or inspired. However, this Mass No. 5 in A-flat major, completed in 1822 when the composer was what for him would turn out to be the “ripe old age” of 25 (he revised the Mass four years later)—is a work decidedly more substantive and refined, particularly regarding the more skillful treatment of the orchestra and more proficient handling of thematic ideas in the choral and solo parts.
The opening is a nifty little imitative sequence—first a choir of winds, then one of strings, followed by the choral sopranos and altos, then tenors and basses, gradually bringing everyone together. There are other memorable moments—the powerful fugal conclusion to the Gloria, the dramatic opening section of the Credo, complete with brass interjections, the strange “horn-call” recurring theme in the Sanctus. Perhaps most memorable is the sheer number and variety of ideas Schubert has crammed into this 40-minute work, which may not add up to the most cohesive Mass ever written, but it’s hard to fault the composer for the attractiveness of those ideas or for his command of orchestral and choral resources.
Schubert’s C major Magnificat is not a complete setting of this beloved text—it uses only the beginning “Magnificat anima mea Dominum” and “Deposuit potentes de sede” verses, concluding with the “Gloria Patri”. Its relatively short timing (not quite nine minutes) and big scoring (four soloists, choir, pairs of oboes, bassoons, trumpets, and drums, plus strings and organ) probably ensures its virtual neglect by concert programmers, but there’s some fine music here, especially the “Deposuit…” section that features lovely Mozartean writing for the ensemble of soloists. As mentioned, Schubert fans should not hesitate, and if you’re a listener looking for a way in to the composer’s church music, this is an excellent place to start. Recommended.
