Reviewed by John Irvine

Anton Bruckner was once described as half a schoolmaster and half a Caesar (his grandfather and father had both been schoolteachers). He loved critical acclaim, yet lived modestly and in seclusion. He thought that he had great talent, yet substantially revised his works at the slightest suggestion of critics, friends and academics, well meaning or otherwise: there exist several versions of almost everything he wrote. All of his works - not just the choral works but also the symphonies -display a deep ingrained religiosity. These were the works of a faith both sincere and undoubting. As he himself wrote: "When God calls me and asks me what I did with the talent that he gave me, I will present to him the score of my 'Te Deum" and I hope that he will judge me mercifully." Bruckner characteristically works on a grand canvas painting a huge majestic picture of a God who truly merits our praise. He completed seven mass settings (the earlier efforts are unnumbered) culminating in the great settings of the 1860s recorded on this three CD set. The influences of the other great Germanic composers is evident in his work: Bach, Mozart, Haydn. Schubert and Wagner; and it was not until the 1860s that he achieved a bold personal style, evident in the great choral works of this period. Asked why it had taken him so long to achieve this he replied: "I didn't dare before." It was his exposure to the music of Wagner that encouraged him to be dramatic! The first disc of the set opens with Bruckner's most mature choral work: the "Te Deum" is magnificent, with massive stirring orchestrations surrounding the triumphal text: "We praise thee, O God". Ooh...every time I hear it I get goosebumps on that stirring opening just before the soloists enter! if the power of music were to be assessed by its ability to send shivers down your spine, then this piece, and this particular recording of it, would score 12 on a scale of 10 every time. The "Mass No 1 In D Minor" which follows the "Te Deum" on this disc has a magnificent symphonic opening, stirring the emotions and drawing the listener into communion with God. The sense of awe as the choir pleads for God's mercy for sinners is almost overwhelming. This is an awesome, majestic God we are addressing and Bruckner's sense of scale is impressive as he manages to convey something of the gulf between creator and created, and of the wonder that our prayers are actually heard. "Swei Aequale (Aequalis I and 2)" and the "Libera Me", three pieces suited to a solemn procession, make a wonderful introduction to the second disc and are beautifully recorded in a very spacious acoustic. They form a solemn, formal and yet moving prelude to the "Mass No 2 In E Minor". This mass is somewhat unusual in that it is for choir with woodwind and brass accompaniment only, and was written with these forces in mind as a sop lo the Cecelian movement, an austere group within the Roman Catholic Church who objected to complexity in liturgical music and deplored the involvement of an orchestra, seeking to return to what they took to be the simplicity of Palestrini's music, or at least a bland imitation thereof. But would they really have accepted the wind instruments rather than the alternative of choir and organ alone? Whatever his intention, Bruckner's second mass relies on slow floating counterpoint making it the most sublime of the three great masses. Long suspensions and clear harmony creating a sense of space are the trademarks of this mass. Palestrini's influence is clearest in the "Sanctus" with a quotation from his "Missa Brevis" of 1570. The whole movement lasts only a few minutes but has a power of suggestion out of proportion to its dimensions. The deepest and most concentrated of Bruckner's masses, and perhaps his least understood or appreciated. The third disc opens with the "Mass No 3 In F Minor". In 1867 Bruckner suffered a strange mental illness - numcromania, the compulsive urge to count objects of all descriptions for no apparent reason - and entered a sanatorium lo recover. His third mass was written in thanksgiving for his return to health. It was to be his biggest and greatest mass, classical in form but injected with a new vitality and a profound religiosity, setting the text with total commitment. In typical form although the mass was finished in 1868. it was further revised until 1893. Easily the most symphonic of the masses, Bruckner was in the process of establishing himself as a composer of symphonies ("Symphony No I was first performed in 1868 after he declined to publish and perform "Die Null"). This three disc set aptly concludes with a setting of Psalm 150 which was to be Bruckner's final choral work, written four years before his death. Although each of these discs is available separately, together they make a dream of a collection: superlative, definitive performances; sensitive clear and technically superior recordings in locations where the warm and spacious acoustic augments and does not detract from the music; packaged together in a three disc box for under £30. As Gramophones recently put it: "Hoping for a better all round performance is probably an impossible dream."

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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