Credits:

Berlioz

Description:

From the 17th to the 18th century, the Esterházy family reigned as the largest landowner in the Kingdom of Hungary until the end of the Habsburg and Austro-Hungarian empires. For a long time, Haydn was the court music director and continued to write masses for the head of the family, Nicholas II, who preferred old-fashioned music. However, Haydn discontinued this practice due to his deteriorating health, and Hummel took over. Beethoven accepted the request with some trepidation and wrote a mass in the Haydn tradition. Unfortunately, the first performance was a failure, and Prince Esterházy was not pleased with the work, so Beethoven changed the dedication from Prince Esterházy to Prince Kinsky and had it published. Nevertheless, it is a hidden masterpiece that was praised by critics of the time as a "wonderful work of art" because of its high degree of perfection. The two poems included in the album are "The Flame of Vesta" on a poem by Sikaneder and "The Silent Sea and the Pleasant Voyage" on a poem by Goethe. Segerstam conducts them with great aplomb. Naxos Japan