Sony Classical have given us some outstanding Schubert Mass recordings in recent years culminating in a ravishing account of the E flat work from Bruno Weil. This latest offering, though, comes as a big disappointment. Over the five days of live performances from which it was stitched together Giulini seems never to have been able to bring his musicians to life. The result is a performance lacking any sense of drama or apparent commitment and sounding not so much listless as downright soporific. If there was an audience present they must have been sleeping very soundly indeed – there’s not a murmur from them – and Giulini’s irritating habit of ending most of the movements (including the festive Gloria) with the choir sustaining a final chord through closed lips only adds to this sense of sleepiness.
The orchestral playing is more than adequate and the Bavarian Radio Chorus sing solidly enough, if with a somewhat ponderous and weighty tone, but it’s a world away from the cutting vitality of Weil’s OAE and his Vienna choirs. In almost every respect the Bruno Weil recording is preferable, and certainly it brings this wonderful work to life in a way which Giulini doesn’t begin to match. If, however, you prefer a recording in the traditional mould – modern instruments and a large, quasi-operatic style chorus – then you can’t go far wrong with Sawallisch’s classic 1980 account which, incidentally, uses the same choir and orchestra as Giulini.'