Two late Haydn Masses on one CD is a tempting proposition. And the performances have many of the virtues familiar from previous issues in this series: fresh, eager choral singing, spirited tempos, buoyant rhythms and precise, pointed orchestral playing. Faster movements such as the opening of the Gloria and Credo in both Masses have an exhilarating, celebratory energy. Weil makes much, too, of Haydn’s dramatic coups: the blazing \fortissimo climax of the “Et vitam venturi” in the Nelsonmesse, for instance, or the thundering martial fanfares in the “Benedictus” of the same work; and he brings a due tension and astringency to the Kyrie of the Nelson Mass, a movement that gains particularly from the lean valveless trumpets and the dry rattle of period timpani.
As with this team’s recordings of the Heiligmesse (7/96) and the Paukenmesse (11/96), reservations centre on the slower sections, where Weil’s direction can be distinctly brisk and unyielding, and on some of the solo singing. Ann Monoyios’s fragile, virginal soprano is often appealing; but the Nelsonmesse, in particular, surely calls for a voice with more colour and expressive variety, and one that can confidently ride the ensemble where required. Both in the Kyrie and the “Benedictus” Monoyios sounds pallid beside Felicity Lott on Pinnock’s superb recording. Nor is Harry van der Kamp, with his raw timbre and lumpy production, a match for Pinnock’s David Wilson-Johnson in the “Qui tollis”. In the Theresienmesse the two predominantly solo sections, the “Gratias” and the “Benedictus”, are pressed very determinedly by Weil, at the expense of the music’s tenderness and grandeur. Both Pinnock and Hickox adopt notably more serene, spacious tempos here and their soloists score over Weil’s in tone quality, blend (Wolfgang Bunten and van der Kamp tend to draw undue attention to themselves) and subtlety of phrasing.
Other provisos include Weil’s reluctance to give Haydn’s pauses and fermate their full value, and – familiar litany – a recording balance that favours the orchestra over the chorus. So while they offer rather less music, the rival period-instrument versions listed above remain the ones to go for – no less vital and exultant, but realizing that much more fully the majesty, compassion and awe of these great works.'