Grace and vigour, assurance and unfailing inventiveness teem in this so-called ''Orphanage'' Mass, and if it was written in 1768, as is generally thought, the composer was all of 13 years old. It is an extraordinary experience, invigorating and somehow cleansing, simply to read the score so strong and purposeful are its lines: the instinct for shapeliness and proportion, the ability of the mind to come up always with something fresh is more than just astonishing.
In the earlier EMI recording under Peter Neumann one could be forgiven for reacting rather less positively to it; the performance, competent and pleasant enough, has no ideas. That has never been one of Harnoncourt's shortcomings. He sometimes sells them too hard, but he is never short of something to say. Here the difference is clear immediately, with much more flavour in the orchestral sound, especially woodwind and brass (and incidentally he does not, as Neumann does, take off the orchestra's chords in the opening adagio at the same time as the choir, but holds them, as marked, to the end of the bars). In the Gloria, the ''Gratias'' makes a much stronger impression, as do the triplets of the ''Qui tollis'' moving against the two quavers. In the Credo, the ''Et incarnatus est'', taken rather slower than andante, has a lovely effect, as of a Wiegenlied, and the ''Crucifixus'', the most striking section, gains from the timbre of the original instruments. The soloists are a distinguished quartet, working together very well, and the choir is an expert and responsive body of singers.
Pitch, in both this and the Exsultate, jubilate, is down by a semitone (in conformity with that of Mozart's time), so this means that Barbara Bonney is singing a B, not a C, at the end of the ''Alleluja''—and how one misses the high note (whatever its textual status) when it is not there, as in the Kirkby/Hogwood recording on L'Oiseau-Lyre. In certain respects I find their version preferable; there's a lighter spring and texture, and the quicker tempo of the middle movement is surely welcomed. Still, Bonney is a fine Mozartian, pure in tone, accomplished in technique, and again the orchestral playing bears the unmistakable stamp of the conductor's thoughtful attention to detail.'