Several draws helped propel this recording by the
Dunedin Consort
onto classical best-seller lists in the autumn of 2023. One is that it is the first to use a new edition of the massive but incomplete
Mozart
Mass in C minor, K. 427
, by
Clemens Kemme
, which fills in some holes but otherwise leaves the music as
wrote it without inserting large-scale additions. Another is the pair of soprano soloists,
Lucy Crowe
and
Anna Dennis
, who effectively realize the showcase nature of the vocal writing (for
's intended,
Constanze Weber
). Further, the
under
John Butt
has honed an exceptionally attractive historical-instrument sound, and this work showcases his winds and brass nicely. They do, it is true, come out a bit over-prominent in comparison with the 18-voice choir, which is enthusiastic but underpowered;
Leopold Mozart
specified a choir of 44 singers in Salzburg in 1757, and choirs had only grown by the younger
's time. Yet another attraction here is a motet by
C.P.E. Bach
(whom
is known to have admired). This is a typically wild work from
C.P.E.
, with harmonic experiments and a unique treatment of the double choir texture
uses in the Sanctus of the
Mass
; he might easily have known the earlier work. The marketplace for versions of the
Mass in C minor
is crowded, with many approaches available and done well, but this one has abundant points of interest. ~ James Manheim