Minkowski disc reviewed in Classical Music Magazine

PURCELL Hail! Bright Cecilia
HANDEL A Song for St Cecilia's Day
HAYDN Cäcilienmesse

Les Musiciens du Louvre-Grenoble
Marc Minkowski

★★★

This lavishly packaged 2-CD set cleverly uses the St Cecilia theme to further link three composers who had major anniversaries in 2009. However, rather than Haydn's complete - and very long - Cäcilienmesse, Marc Minkowski includes only the Kyrie and Gloria, citing H C Robbins London's suggestion that Haydn may have initially composed these opening sections as a separate Missa brevis (although Minkowski also adds two movements from the later Credo as encores). Recorded in Grenoble's M2 auditorium - presumably live, given the edgy energy and somewhat murky acoustic - these very public celebrations of music's patron saint share an extrovert grandeur, which Minkowski's liking for bold gestures, big set pieces and exaggerated tempi underlines, too much so at times since quicker movements can sound hurried and some of the slower ones are almost becalmed. There are thrilling moments from soloists Lucy Crowe, Richard Croft, Anders J Dahlin (in the Purcell) and Nathalie Stutzmann (in the Haydn), but the performances overall are too declamatory, like art executed with too broad a brush.

GL