This new recording of the so-called Heiligmesse, rounding off Richard Hickox's survey of Haydn's late Masses, fully lives up to the standards set by previous issues in the series. With characteristically fresh, inspiriting work from soloists, chorus and orchestra, the performance captures both the symphonic impetus and the spiritual and physical exhilaration of this gloriously life-affirming music. Hickox is ever responsive to the drama and colour of Haydn's orchestral writing, while the 24-strong chorus sings with firm, well-nourished tone over a wide dynamic range (no hint of 'fuzz' in pianissimo passages) and a real care for the meaning of the text. The many high-lying entries are always true, never strained or overblown, and the sopranos rise unflinchingly to their frequent high B flats. The soloists have less to do here than in Haydn's other late Masses: but, led by the plangent, beseeching soprano of Lorna Anderson, they sing with a chamber-musical grace and intimacy both in the fervently contrapuntal 'Gratias' and in the 'Et incarnatus est', set as a canon on one of those tender, heart-easing melodies that are such a feature of Haydn's late style.
It is above all in these two sections, and the radiantly lyrical 'Benedictus', that the new recording scores over the 1996 Sony version from Bruno Weil. Weil's spirited direction is highly effective in the faster music; but the more contemplative sections tend to be a shade driven and matter-of-fact, at the expense of their mystery and spirituality. Unlike Weil, incidentally, Hickox opts for Haydn's original scoring, minus the horn parts and the enhanced parts for clarinets that he (or someone with his approval) later added for a performance in Vienna's Court Chapel.
Hickox's coupling is the appealing Missa brevis Haydn composed in honour of Prince Nicolaus Esterhazy's nameday in December 1772 - something of a relaxation, no doubt, after the strenuous creative endeavour involved in Symphonies Nos. 45-47 and the Op. 20 String Quartets. Cast in the 'pastoral' key of G major, with prominent parts for high horns, the Mass draws on musical imagery traditionally associated with Advent and the Nativity - most obviously in the swaying 6/4 metre and assuaging parallel thirds of the Kyrie, which, unusually in his Masses, Haydn repeats for the 'Dona nobis pacem'. The performance is sympathetic, rhythmically alive and attentive to the Mass's distinctive pastoral tinta. Again, the soloists make their mark both individually and in ensemble, with Anderson floating a beautiful line in the 'Gratias' and Mark Padmore launching the expressive G minor 'Et incarnatus est' with gently rounded tone and graceful phrasing.
As with previous offerings in this series, the recorded sound is clear, spacious and carefully balanced, combining vivid orchestral detail (incisive yet never overbearing trumpets and timpani in the Heiligmesse) with plenty of impact from the chorus. This is how Haydn's Masses should be done; and I hope Hickox and his forces will now go on to record the remainder of the earlier works.'