Dvorak: Mass in D major, Op.86 (B175)

Penguin Guide 1994 3 star

“Kertész's Requiem dates from 1968 and on all counts but one, it surpasses Karel Ancerl's classic 1959 set, reissued on DG in 1995 and coupled with Fischer-Dieskau's 1960 set of Dvorák's Bibli-cal Songs with Jörg Demus. The exception is the rather too soft-grained singing of Pilar Lorengar as compared with the clear, more vibrant soprano of Maria Stader. But Lorengar's singing is particularly sensitive and appealing in the quieter passages.
The lovely quality of Robert Ilosfalvy's voice tells beautifully in 'Liber scriptus proferetur' and in the opening section of the quartet, 'Recordare, Jesu pie'. Dvorák distributes short passages among the soloists impartially. They combine beautifully in the quartet, and the chorus with them in 'Pie Jesu Domine'. The hero of the occasion is Kertész. He gets choral singing and orchestral playing of the finest quality. It's abundantly evident that he cherishes a great love for this work.
The Mass in D (sung in the original version with organ) sits well with the Requiem; Simon Preston produces a fine, well-balanced performance, with the Christ Church choristers on excellent form.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“A performance like this makes me wonder why it isn’t (the Mass) performed more often… this mass is a treasury of beautiful sounds… I can’t imagine better readings than the ones here.”” American Record Guide (Mass in D Major)

“This imaginative coupling brings together three fine pieces of Czech church music in skilled and sympathetic interpretations. Dvorák's Mass has received a number of good recorded performances; this one, in the original 1887 version with organ, has a very well-matched quartet of soloists who blend smoothly with each other and with the chamber choir. It's a work of particular intimacy and charm, and these qualities mark this performance.
Janácek's setting of the Lord's Prayer dates from 1906, and is in turn a meditative piece, not without vivid illustrative touches appropriate to a work originally designed to accompany a sequence of devotional pictures; and Petr Eben's Prague Te Deum coincided, in 1969, with a moment of apparent release from political oppression. It has something of Janácek's suddenness in the invention, and a graceful melodic manner. Each of these works is in its way inward, personal and reflective, but they all share a Czech character.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010