CHANDOS early music SCHUBERT Mass in E flat major, D 950 Susan Gritton · Pamela Helen Stephen · Mark Padmore James Gilchrist · Matthew Rose Collegium Musicum 90 Richard Hickox CHAN 0750 CCHANHAN 00750750 BBookletooklet CCover.inddover.indd 1 11/2/08/2/08 113:38:363:38:36 Franz Schubert Franz Schubert (1797–1828) Mass in E fl at major, D950 52:54 in Es-Dur . en mi bémol majeur 1 I Kyrie 5:50 2 Lebrecht Music & Arts Picture Library II Gloria. ‘Gloria in excelsis Deo’ – 3:28 3 ‘Domine Deus’ – 5:03 4 ‘Cum Sancto Spiritu’ 4:03 5 III Credo. ‘Credo in unum Deum’ – 2:41 6 ‘Et incarnatus est’ – 6:36 7 ‘Et resurrexit’ 6:13 8 IV Sanctus 3:22 9 V Benedictus 5:52 10 VI Agnus Dei 9:42 TT 52:54 Susan Gritton soprano Pamela Helen Stephen mezzo-soprano Mark Padmore tenor James Gilchrist tenor Matthew Rose bass Collegium Musicum 90 Richard Hickox 3 CCHANHAN 00750750 BBooklet.inddooklet.indd 22-3-3 11/2/08/2/08 113:37:033:37:03 violin I Simon Standage David Rubio 1996, copy of Guarnerius ‘Rode’, 1734 Catherine Martin John Betts, 1814 oboe Iona Davies Anonymous, North Italian, c. 1760 James Eastaway Toshi Hasegawa 1988, copy of Floth, c. 1810 William Thorp John Betts, London, c. 1790 Mark Baigent Richard Earle 2004, copy of Floth, c. 1810 Huw Daniel Anonymous, Dutch, c. 1700 Claire Duff Snoeck (Antwerp), c. 1720 clarinet Elizabeth MacCarthy David Rattray 2002, after Jacob Stainer, 1680 Colin Lawson Daniel Bangham 1991, after Heinrich Grenser, Dresden, 1810 Fiona Huggett Chris Johnson 1999, copy of Guarneri ‘Del Gesu’, 1733 Margaret Archibald Daniel Bangham 1980, copy of Roche (Paris), 1795 violin II bassoon Miles Golding Antonio Mariani (Brescia), 1660 Alastair Mitchell Adler (Paris), very early 19th century Jane Gordon Chris Johnson 2000, copy of Amati Zoe Shevlin Peter de Koningh 1999, after Grenser, c. 1800 Ann Monnington Lockey Hill, c. 1795 horn Diane Terry Jacob Stainer, 1671 Gavin Edwards Paxman of London 2003, copy of a Lachdenschneider Diane Moore Anonymous, English or Flemish, c. 1800 Christian Rutherford John Webb / Anthony Halstead 1992, copy of L.-J. Raoux (Paris), Ellen O’Dell David Rubio 1987, copy of Stradivarius c. 1795 viola trumpet Trevor Jones Rowland Ross 1977, after Stradivarius, 1690 Crispian Steele-Perkins George Astor, 1798 Stefanie Heichelheim Rowland Ross 2004, copy of Andreas Guarneri model of 1676 Michael Laird Matthew Parker 1999, copy of Ehe (Nuremberg), mid 18th century David Brooker George Stoppani 1988, after Stradivarius Alfonso Leal Del Ojo Anonymous, German, 18th century trombone Philip Dale Egger (Basle), copy of Johann Joseph Schmied, Nuremberg, 1785 cello Emily White Egger (Basle), copy of Johann Joseph Schmied, Nuremberg, 1778 Richard Tunnicliffe attrib. Leonhard Maussiell (Nuremberg), c. 1730 Adrian France Egger (Basle), copy of Johann Joseph Schmied, Nuremberg, 1785 Catherine Rimer William Forster, 1780 Dominic O’Dell Betts School, 1750 timpani David Stirling Hoffnung & Vanryne, 1998 bass Elizabeth Bradley Gilkes, c.1830 Timothy Amherst Unnamed Viennese instrument, c.1790 4 5 CCHANHAN 00750750 BBooklet.inddooklet.indd 44-5-5 11/2/08/2/08 113:37:053:37:05 for the fi rst time prefers to retain the the latter from continuing echoes of the Schubert: Mass in E fl at major choral ensemble and bring the previously former by means of textural contrast. After suppressed urgency into sharper focus by this episode has provided what in a sonata raising voices to a new pitch and dynamic movement might be called a second-subject The fourteen years separating the ‘Unfi nished’ Symphony), and the E fl at, level. Was he conscious of the fact that this contrast, the words and music of the composition of Schubert’s fi rst setting of composed fi ve months before his tragically fi rst phrase of the ‘Christe’ is a transplant opening of the movement make a return to the mass (in F) from his sixth and last early death at the age of thirty-one in of the second subject of his ‘Lebensstürme’ close off the fi rst main section. (the E fl at) may seem a short time, unless 1828 – are both distinctly individual for piano duet, composed in the previous A change of tempo and key marks a new we recall that his composing career, as masterpieces. The Mass in E fl at appears month? (That ‘Life’s Storms’ nickname was section, where in G minor sombre brass represented by the surviving and catalogued to have been written (in June of his fi nal appended by the publisher.) We shall never intone a new theme in long notes, each works, comprised a mere eighteen years. year) with a performance in mind at Holy know; but the self-borrowing lends some followed by a tremolo string afterbeat. The The seventeen-year-old had achieved a big Trinity Church in the Alsergrund suburb credence to our perception of the original as prayer is addressed (‘Domine Deus, qui…’) local success conducting his Mass in F at his of Vienna, probably for the dedication of ‘chorale-like’, while the intensity of the four- in forceful unison, followed by the plea parish church in Lichtental, then (but not the church which took place a few months hand piece is relevant to the present context. itself (‘miserere nobis’) in soft harmony. This now) outside the Vienna city boundary. His after Schubert’s death. Its Sanctus seems to As the orchestra, with trombones at its pattern repeats itself, at the third time the frequent return to the genre suggested a germinate from a seed sown in that early core, opposes and reinforces the choral plea rising to the only triple forte marking self-renewing absorption in its challenges Mass in F, but the whole work benefi ts from body at the opening of the Credo, with in the whole Gloria, as though this is the as the artist’s developing style opened the enriched harmonic imagination that solid rhythmic verve and rich harmonic emotional core of the movement. The new musical possibilities, whatever the informs the entire abundant legacy of the juxtapositions, we can sense Schubert following ‘Quoniam’ reinstates the opening religious convictions of the man. Schubert’s fi nal six months of his short life. pointing up paths for Bruckner to explore material of the movement, and the fi nal faith was a questioning one, not wholly For Schubert and his immediate forbears, in his time. The challenge for the composer, ‘Cum Sancto Spiritu’ fugue is based on the at ease with the established church, and a Kyrie tends to impart an atmosphere of in a movement where much text must subject of Bach’s E major Fugue from Book 2 his regular omission of parts of the mass quiet, self-effacing, reverential pleading. inevitably be consumed in a shorter space of the ‘Forty-Eight’. text (those parts appearing it italics in the There is, none the less, a sense of suppressed of time than in a (six-word) Kyrie, is to A single momentum carries the Credo accompanying text) may have refl ected urgency in the restless rhythm of the give each verbal phrase its character while through to the contrasting ‘Incarnatus’, the his doubts. He could exert this degree orchestral bass as the E fl at Mass opens, as imposing a degree of thematic continuity opening drum roll and wind interjections of selectivity in the liberal atmosphere well as fl ecks of harmonic angst. With the and unity. Schubert achieves this by, for being used as a punctuating device, prevailing in Biedermeier Vienna. At words ‘Christe eleison’, where traditional instance, devising a theme for the ‘Gratias incorporated into the vocal parts themselves any rate, his two mature settings – the orthodoxy requires the introduction of solo agimus’ which can be easily adapted for at ‘Deum de Deo’. For the ‘Incarnatus’, A fl at, fi nished in 1822 (the year of the voices in more intimate petition, Schubert ‘Domine Deus, Rex coelestis’, setting off vocal soloists are introduced for the fi rst 6 7 CCHANHAN 00750750 BBooklet.inddooklet.indd 66-7-7 11/2/08/2/08 113:37:053:37:05 time, two tenors and a soprano sharing a Seldom can awe, mystery and majesty conclude the work the two moods of fear Mozartwoche with conductors such theme which owes something to one in the have been so powerfully conveyed as in the and hope remain closely intermingled to as Rattle, Mackerras, Norrington and slow introduction to Schubert’s Rosamunde Sanctus, where remotely related minor chords the last. Harding. Her latest recordings for Chandos Overture. The fi rst tenor presents this succeed each other like imposing mountain include the role of Marˇenka (The Bartered © 2008 Brian Newbould elegantly formed melody, which perhaps peaks suddenly emerging from the mist. The Bride), nominated for a Grammy Award, and peers over the Alps to Italian opera as ‘Hosanna’ is an energetic fugue on a suitably The Hummel Mass Edition, the fi rst volume much as it is rooted in the Austrian Church bright subject. The Benedictus never strays Susan Gritton was the winner of the 1994 of which won a Gramophone Award in 2003. tradition. The second tenor takes the theme, far from the devotional calm of its opening or Kathleen Ferrier Memorial Prize. On the while the fi rst weaves a countertheme from its A fl at major key, as melodious solo operatic stage she has appeared as Liù Mezzo-soprano Pamela Helen Stephen against it. The soprano fi nally enters for the and choral strains succeed each other in a (Turandot) and Micaela (Carmen) at The studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of third presentation, wreathed now by two rondo-like pattern.