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Editorial Reviews

A mix of rare and random performances of Mozart's sacred music from Deutsche Grammophon's back catalog, this disc will be sought out by some and passed over by others. Listeners looking for Rafael Kubelik's light and lyrical 1973 recordings of the "Sparrow Mass" and "Coronation Mass" or for Ferenc Fricsay and Maria Stader's bright and brilliant 1960 recording of the "Exultate, Jubilate" will find them coupled here. Both Kubelik's sets of soloists are quite fine, particularly the effortless Edith Mathis, and his use of the pure tone of the Regensburger Domspatzen in "Sparrow Mass" is inspired. Fricsay was well known as an elegant and energetic Mozart conductor and his collaboration here with the exuberantly joyful Stader is surely one of the outstanding recordings of the "Exultate, Jubilate." Unfortunately, the closing "Ave Verum Corpus" with Kubelik and the Domspatzen, though devout, is dull, weak, and plodding by comparison. In short, a mixed bag of sacred Mozart captured in Deutsche Grammophon's rich, ripe, deep, and true 1960 monaural sound and its stereo sound that is warm and full but as clear as it ought to be given its 1973 date. James Leonard, All Music Guide

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