The third instalment in Naxos’s survey of Mozart’s Masses alights on three works from the mid-1770s, two of which have already appeared on the label. That recording was by the choir of St Albans Cathedral (4/13), so the obvious difference concerns the choral set-up – Hertfordshire boys or Cologne adults. Both K194 (1774) and K275 (1777) are Missae breves, designed so the entire service could be dispatched in no more than three quarters of an hour to suit Salzburg’s impatient Prince-Archbishop.

If the effect can be more one of efficiency than of piety, that’s Mozart’s fault – even he couldn’t hide the fact that his heart wasn’t always in it – but the Cologne forces give their all in performances that are just about ideal. Listeners may prefer the more outgoing choral sound of the Arnold Schoenberg Choir under Nikolaus Harnoncourt or a different gathering of Cologne singers under Peter Neumann (my own preference) but these now come in physical format only in multi-disc sets, so those interested in Mozart’s sacred output as he grew from a teenager into a young man could do much worse than start here. Poppen’s soloists are as fine as any and blend particularly delectably towards the end of K275’s Agnus Dei.

The Mass for Holy Trinity (‘Sanctissimae Trinitatis’) doesn’t fare quite so well. This is Mozart’s only Mass for choir alone, without solo voices, and also features four trumpets – two playing high in the clarino range plus two trombe playing little more than tonics and dominants in the bass clef – by 1773 a slightly archaic sound that Mozart would henceforth abandon in favour of a pair of mid-range trumpets. The softer attack of Poppen’s choir and somewhat distanced violins make this a less vivid performance than the listed comparisons in a work that doesn’t boast much in the way of melodic distinction. Nevertheless, this volume is worthwhile for the two slightly later Masses.