Those who bought the recently issued recording of these three works under Antonio Pappano are probably and properly very happy with their purchase‚ and they won’t want to change now. But for those who let the occasion slip and for others who missed Michael Oliver’s enthusiastic review‚ now might be the time to give the matter some thought. And ‘the matter’ is certainly not simply one of price. Personally‚ I like the new and cheaper one better. If the recorded sound is not so opulent as EMI’s‚ it is very clear and lets in the light. If the dynamic contrasts are not so big‚ they are also rather more refined. Generally Morandi prefers slightly faster speeds‚ though not so fast as Pappano when he really gets up some steam in the last sections of the Gloria. In these marvellous passages‚ he is certainly very exciting: play the two performances of this side by side and Pappano would surely ‘win’. But in context Morandi brings out the inherent excitement very effectively and naturally whereas Pappano underlines it. He does so in other places. With Pappano the majestic Verdian unisons of the ‘Qui tollis’ broaden like a great smile across a large face: it’s grand fun but tends towards vulgarity. Of the work as a whole‚ Morandi and his forces give a more youthful performance. There’s an easy lightness of step (the Gloria sets off with a dance). The chorus is particularly fresh in tone and response‚ and the tenor soloist‚ Antonello Palombi‚ is more gracefully lyrical and Italianate in timbre than either Alagna (with Pappano) or his predecessor Carreras (with Scimone). The baritone is less apt and certainly no match for Hampson (Pappano) or Prey (Scimone); musical nevertheless‚ and blending well with his colleague in the Agnus Dei. In the orchestral pieces‚ Pappano takes a bolder hand in shaping the phrases‚ though there’s nothing dull or insensitive about Morandi and the Hungarians. Pappano builds more strongly in the Preludio sinfonica (1882‚ incidentally‚ not 1876 as stated in the accompanying note). In the string piece‚ Crisantemi‚ Morandi’s somewhat quicker tempo‚ still answering to the marking andante mesto‚ is welcome‚ keeping mawkishness at bay and limiting the over­exposure of rather thin material. Let me emphasise‚ as Michael Oliver did last November‚ that there is nothing thin about the material of the Mass: if by any chance you begin with a smile at the 22­year­old’s musical naivety‚ further acquaintance soon brings pleasure in the recognition of a young master.