This issue will be of great interest to many people,
as Trinity Wall Street is the closest church to the area now known as
‘Ground Zero’. The booklet contains a striking and rather moving account
of 9/11 from Trinity’s point of view. Given that the church is just
three blocks from where the Trade Center towers once stood, it seems
miraculous that not only is the church itself undamaged, but even the
beautiful stained glass windows (three of them pictured on the case
of the CD) survived, while plate glass everywhere in the area was being
shattered and scattered. The church itself was back in relatively normal
use by November 4th 2001.
So this recording, though made some months before the
horror struck, has a very special resonance to it. Good job then that
it is such a pleasing and enjoyable one. Haydn’s Masses are, of course,
a veritable musical goldmine, and we have here a charming early ‘missa
brevis’ plus the composer’s lengthiest and most expansive mass, the
St. Cecilia, written around 1766, though the date of its first
performance is unknown. By the way, don’t be put off by the conductor’s
use of his doctorate (not always a promising sign!); these are lively,
stylish and very characterful performances.
One little moan; given the copious information in the
booklet about Trinity Church, about the REBEL Baroque orchestra, about
Burdick, about Haydn, and about pretty well every other aspect of the
performances and the music, it is quite extraordinary that the solo
singers are not credited anywhere that I could find. The solos
in the early mass are quite undemanding, but those in the St. Cecilia
are florid, technically difficult and fully developed. There really
is no excuse for not giving the soloists prominent billing, even if
they are, as I suspect, members of the choir who have ‘stepped up’.
The Dutch REBEL Baroque Orchestra (named after the
French Baroque composer Jean-Féry Rebel) play superbly, with
plenty of guts, and an appropriately forthright style, while the Choir
of Trinity Church sing with wonderfully fresh tone in all four parts.
They sound like a very young choir, providing just the right energetic
yet light sound that you need for this music.
Returning to the soloists, the women’s voices are a
delight, having the same clear and youthful tone as found in the choir,
yet with the technical accomplishment needed for the challenging solos
in the larger scale work. The two men are more problematic; the bass
sings beautifully but is a little under-powered in his lower register,
while the tenor has a very idiosyncratic tone – rather tight and throaty
– that some people will find hard to listen to; a pity, because he actually
sings stylishly and musically. I just wish I could tell you all
of their names! (If anyone from hänssler reads this,
please find out who they are, let me know and I’ll make sure they appear
on the site).
There are some fine versions of the St. Cecilia
Mass available, most notably by Hickox and Preston (the latter with
Emma Kirkby sublime in the soprano solos), but nonetheless, this new
CD is emphatically well worth a hearing, as it has a special quality
of freshness and enthusiasm which the recording engineers have captured
superbly well.
Gwyn Parry-Jones
A special quality of freshness and enthusiasm which
the recording engineers have captured superbly well. … see Full Review
The Choir of Trinity Church,
Wall Street, REBEL Baroque Orchestra/Dr.Owen Burdick