Mozart's symphonic and instrumental music, to say nothing of the operas, sometimes makes us forget his sacred choral music (even the Requiem is not in everyone's collection). So it is good that in this bicentenary year we are being reminded of it, not least because it often has a powerfully dramatic quality and a sombre magnificence which makes it quite different from Haydn's church music, and perceptibly different, too, from other Mozart. I suspect, indeed, that he held a dark and far from conventional view of his Catholic faith (as his embracing of Freemasonry also suggests), which perhaps tells us more than he usually reveals about the frustrations and bewilderments of his short life. At any rate, the Mass in C minor, a key which was always special to him, is a large-scale and sometimes surprisingly despairing work, though naturally the mood lightens towards the end, with the Sanctus and Benedictus. This performance under Raymond Leppard is a noble one with good soloists, chorus and orchestral playing, as well as a satisfying sound which belies its date of 1973. Indeed, the soloists and conductors on this two-disc set include some names who between them give rise to expectations that are not disappointed. The composer wrote his motet Ave verum corpus less than six months before his death, and this wonderfully poised piece is well performed here under Karajan.
The second of these two discs contains the brighter music of the Coronation Mass; this was a good choice to balance the tension of the other Mass and the resignation of the motet, to say nothing of the Requiem that follows. The Coronation Mass in C major, written for Salzburg's Easter ceremonies in 1779, is strongly done in this Munich performance under Eugen Jochum. The Requiem, under Riccardo Muti, has considerable breadth using Swedish choral forces alongside the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and a good, though not remarkable, team of soloists. It is possible to bring still more intensity to this work which was Mozart's last will and testament, but it is still a satisfying account with a thrilling Dies irae sequence. The digital recording from 1987 is full-bodied though obscuring some detail in the big choruses.'