This generous disc brings together on CD recordings of these three masses, previously available in different formats: the G major with the long Missa Cellensis, the Sancti Nicolai with the F major Missa brevis of about 1749, and the Grosse Orgelmesse by itself. The little Rorate coeli desuper Mass, if it is Haydn's (some authorities doubt it), may well be the earliest work of his that we have. It is pretty simple and direct, to put it quite kindly, but its eight minutes' music do have some heartfelt moments, the predictable ones the ''Et incarnatus'' and especially the Agnus Dei. The others have more to offer: the Sancti Nicolai has a fine vigorous Gloria, for example, and the Grosse Orgelmesse some delectable organ solos (in the Kyrie and Benedictus, for instance) as well as a notable ''Qui tollis'', with effectively varied textures and moving ''miserere'' pleas, and a most eloquent ''Et incarnatus'', a tenor solo, exquisitely done here, with soft and perfectly controlled tone and gently eloquent phrasing from Martyn Hill—the record would be worth having for his solo alone. Judith Nelson's soprano solos give much pleasure too. There are, I think, some routine passages, and sometimes Simon Preston seems to be making slightly heavy weather of them. The orchestral sound is happily enriched by english horns in the Orgelmesse.
The recording, which has a pleasantly and properly resonant acoustic, dates from a time when our 'period' bands were less assured than they are now and there are one or two moments of marginal intonation. But the singing, choral as well as solo, is admirable, the scale is right, the style is accomplished: no one is likely to be disappointed with this disc.'