The Audite label continues
to put collectors in their debt by issuing
live performances conducted by Rafael
Kubelik. This issue is particularly
valuable since I can’t immediately recall
many instances of commercial recordings
of Schubert’s music by Kubelik
There is much fine
music in this Mass setting, one of the
two most substantial that Schubert composed.
I regret that there’s not more for the
soloists to do. They don’t feature at
all until the Credo, and then in a limited
way, after which they have more to do
in the Benedictus and Agnus Dei. Kubelik’s
team make the most of their relatively
limited opportunities to shine. This
Mass is a substantial composition in
which most of the musical argument is
carried by the chorus. Schubert could
have pruned it a bit, especially in
the Gloria and Credo, without sacrificing
much.
In this performance
the Kyrie flows nicely. The Gloria starts
strongly and Kubelik and his forces
make good use of dynamic contrast. I
was glad, but not surprised, to find
that Kubelik keeps the music moving
forward nicely. For my money, however,
there are some excessively repetitious
passages. The central section of the
Gloria, starting at ‘Domine Deus’ (4:41
in this reading) is dramatic and the
Bavarian trombones ring out assertively
and darkly. The music is quite jagged
at times and Kubelik makes the most
of this. But surely Schubert extends
this section too much? In even this
well paced performance the section lasts
over four minutes and I find my attention
wandered a bit. Equally, the fugue with
which the Gloria rather predictably
concludes is too extensive. I like Kubelik’s
sprightly pacing, despite which his
choir articulates the notes well, but
even so three and a half minutes is
a trifle excessive for the material.
The soloists finally
get involved – or some of them do –
in an andante terzetto in the
Credo at ‘Et incarnatus est’ When I
first heard this performance I thought
the section sounded a bit laboured.
But the tempo is virtually identical
to that adopted by Wolfgang Sawallisch
in his fine 1980 EMI recording, by coincidence
also with the Bavarian choir and orchestra.
A comparative listening exercise suggested
to me that the reason that the passage
sounds better under Sawallisch is because
his soloists phrase the music more lightly
and imaginatively. The musical material
for this section is echt-Schubert
but for all its merits I do wonder if
he should have indulged in a repetition
of the music after the choir has sung
‘Crucifixus etiam pro nobis’. Apart
from any musical considerations the
repetition of ‘Et incarnatus’ at this
point makes no textual sense. As in
the Gloria this movement concludes with
a fugue, lasting this time for some
four minutes. Once again I found myself
wishing that Schubert had edited his
material – and it’s an exacting sing
for the chorus as I know from personal
experience. However, Kubelik’s choir
delivers it very well.
The opening of the
Sanctus is majestic in Kubelik’s hands.
The lively ‘Osanna’ is well sung; the
choir demonstrates, as they do throughout
the piece, lots of commitment and they
sing with good, unforced tone. In the
Benedictus we hear at greater length
from the soloists – the full quartet
this time – and they do well.
The concluding Agnus
Dei is a powerful movement. In the first
four bars that the basses sing there’s
a tiny moment in which the singing is
just less than unanimous. This is remarkable
in that it’s the only (and very minor)
choral blemish that I noticed throughout
the whole performance. The choir and
orchestra project the dramatic passages
here very strongly and they’re just
as successful in the much more subdued
music for ‘Miserere nobis’.
This is a very good
performance of Schubert’s Mass, which,
despite its occasional longueurs,
is a fine work. Kubelik conducts with
dedication and with fidelity to the
score. He’s well supported by his singers
and orchestra. I’d rank this reading
as pretty much on a par with Sawallisch’s,
which I’ve admired for many years. The
recorded sound is very pleasing. I’ve
only listened to the disc as a conventional
CD. Audite explain in a booklet note
that the recording is presented on what
they call a Listen and Compare basis.
This means that on an SACD player "one
can hear the unrevised historical archive
recording [on separate tracks] following
the restored version." I’d advise
SACD collectors to read the note in
full for themselves.
Anyone who doesn’t
have a version of this work in his or
her collection could do far worse than
invest in this recording.
John Quinn
Gundula Janowitz (soprano); Grace Hoffmann (alto);
Albert Gassner (tenor); Waldemar Kmentt (tenor);
Franz Crass (bass) 
