These seem rather old-fashioned performances nowadays, but they are vigorous and full of conviction and I am sure that there are many readers who will find them sympathetic. The Coronation Mass has a splendidly imposing start, and the two long movements, the Gloria and Credo, are done with plenty of spirit at rather rapid tempos: the effect is brilliant and affirmative, though with these rather large forces it does seem a shade driven. The ''Osanna'' is also decidedly speedy. There is some really lovely, heartfelt solo singing from Helen Donath, especially in the Agnus Dei. The soloists are recorded unnaturally forward, giving the impression of their being very close with a big choir in the distance. The orchestral balance doesn't seem quite right, either, with the trombones in particular too prominent at times.
Davis's reading of the C minor Mass is very much more weighty; his interpretations certainly accentuate the difference between these two works, only three or four years apart. The sombre, intense opening can readily be justified, but the heavy ''Domine Deus'' and the very slow ''Et incarnatus'', beautifully sung though it is, again by Donath, do seem exaggerated, and even if the ''Quoniam'' is quickish it seems somewhat ponderously legato. There is certainly a feeling for the grandeur of the work and also its drama (listen for example to the Sanctus), and the sturdy, forthright ''Benedictus'' is very effective too. Donath excels again in the ''Laudamus te'' (her semiquaver runs neat and crystalline) and her duetting with Heather Harper in the ''Laudamus te'' is very enjoyable, although the voices do not really match well: there are of course arguments either way, for blend or contrast, in music with such close interplay.
The performance of the Requiem is still available on a single CD (2/88) and it is one that has been much, and justly, recommended. It is certainly a rather operatic reading, with much drama and passion and eloquence, and I still find it very musical and compelling, though some may feel that the variations in tempo and the general consciousness of effect are not what they want in an ecclesiastical work. Again, there is sure and strong choral singing, and Donath shines once more as the soprano, with Ryland Davies in his best voice in the tenor music. These are not, then, the versions of these works that I would choose first of all, but they are musical and persuasive and, at a moderate price, well worth considering.'