Corboz, who has conducted so many enjoyable performances, tends to be unlucky in his recordings; either somebody else comes out at the same time with a better version or, if the performances are roughly of equal merit, then it's the recorded sound that tips the balance. He appears to like a warm acoustic and his production team presumably hear nothing amiss; nor is there anything wrong in some instances—it suits Mendelssohn, for instance—but it involves an inevitable loss of sharpness and clarity, both of which are prerequisites for this Mass of Beethoven's. Corboz's bad luck this time lies in the recent issue of a Decca CD on which Chailly conducts, and with the same coupling of Meeresstille. In the Mass, the two performances are not unlike: until the Agnus Dei their speeds are almost identical and there is no great divergence of approach. But the better definition of sound in the Decca version (despite that also being recorded in a church) makes all the difference, especially in the Gloria and Credo, where the counterpoint needs to be clear, and where the energy is diffused if the rests are filled in by echo.
With the overall effect of the Corboz recording dampened in this way, attention is drawn more closely to the dullness of the soloists. As a quartet they are at least homogeneous, but what a group of blank faces they present. When they sing the ''Benedictus'' you would think it was the Via crucis or Stabat mater. The tenor sounds almost regretful about the Incarnation, and the Resurrection quite depresses the bass. The choir has excellent tone, but it's muffled and is backward in balance with the orchestra and soloists. Then, if one starts on comparisons, say with the Agnus Dei, where Chailly adds a minute to Corboz's timing, there is no mistaking the former's stronger dramatic life and tautness (though neither of them catches the joy and tension of the ''Dona nobis pacem'' section as Beecham did on EMI—nla). In Meeresstille the contrast is still more inescapable. The words, the pointing, the shading, all are so much more effective with Chailly, though he in turn has little of the insight that so transfigures Michael Tilson Thomas's performance in his marvellous CBS recital of Beethoven choral music.'