Boston Baroque - Haydn: Lord Nelson Mass - Words and Music

Ahem. Attention please. The Bostonians celebrate mass with pomp, solemnity and Haydn. The composer in 1798 was nervous about what the future might hold with Napoleon on the rampage. The mass is titled Mass in the Time of Anguish. The period specialists pump out the drama efficiently, not lingering over the echo, but firing volleys from the timps and trumpets and retiring. The work has another nickname: The Nelson Mass because the British admiral had just defeated the French Emperor. Hurrah! The work unfolds now anxiously, now triumphantly, the contrast epitomised in the Sanctus where timid utterances of 'Holy' give way to an uproarious Osanna. The soloists lead boldly, soprano Wilson pleading for mercy in pearly melismas, mezzo Fischer with motherly warmth, tenor Jameson with uncharacteristic bashfulness and bass Deas with with a cannon's roar. Conductor Pearlman delivers the entire supplication in record time, allowing the Bostonian sopranos to let rip in the Gloria, urging the pace in the sluggish Benedictus. The insistent chiming motif of the Agnus dei soothes by repetition and tolls as if for the dead. There's even time for a symphony at the end. The fashionably old-fashioned instruments play No102, infusing it with a sense of relief that a) Napoleon failed and b) the falling chandelier killed no one when it crashed down during the symphony's finale. The disc makes an impact, with its comforting mass and cheerful symphony.