COMPOSERS: Howells
LABELS: Chandos
WORKS: Missa sabrinensis
PERFORMER: Soloists; LSO & Chorus/Gennadi Rozhdestvensky
CATALOGUE NO: CHAN 9348 DDD
Howells’s complex Missa sabrinensis (Mass of the Severn) stretches the performers and the listener, mainly because of long sustained passages lacking memorable themes. But there is no denying the blazing splendour of the Gloria and the Credo and the serene beauty of the Benedictus; all thrillingly and sensitively realised by Rozhdestvensky’s forces, the soloists gloriously enriching the contrapuntal texture of the chorus. Brilliant but exhausting. Ian Lace
Howells: Missa sabrinensis
Howells’s complex Missa sabrinensis (Mass of the Severn) stretches the performers and the listener, mainly because of long sustained passages lacking memorable themes. But there is no denying the blazing splendour of the Gloria and the Credo and the serene beauty of the Benedictus; all thrillingly and sensitively realised by Rozhdestvensky’s forces, the soloists gloriously enriching the contrapuntal texture of the chorus. Brilliant but exhausting. Ian Lace
Published: January 20, 2012 at 3:12 pm