Reviewed by Steven Whitehead

A confession: this reviewer owns copies of all of Haydn's Masses, including some different recordings, and has heard concert performances as well. However, my collection does not run to many different versions of the same Masses and so I cannot make any valid comparisons, other to point out that other recordings are available. Having said this, we can also remind ourselves that any Naxos release is always of reasonable quality and some achieve greatness and, above all, Naxos represent excellent value for money so this new release is an easy recommendation. For context let us read the blurb on the back cover: "It is clear that with this 'Missa Cellensis' Haydn reached, and reached with panache and astonishing vigour, the popular style for which he had been so long and so diligently searching. For this reason, the 'Mariazellermesse' is both the precursor to Haydn's late Masses as well as the culmination of his early efforts in the genre. 14 years elapsed before Haydn's setting of the Mass In Time of War, also known as the 'Paukenmesse' because of his evocative use of the timpani; the work demonstrates Haydn's new approach to the Mass, including dramatic extremes and more frequent integration of solo and chorus." To my ears these two Masses are the closest Haydn came to Mozart's setting or, to put it the other way, Mozart may have been influenced by Haydn's 'Missa Cellensis, Mariazellermesse' of 1782 but died before the other was written. And this is probably a good guide: if you like Mozart you will like these two Masses and if you like Haydn then the same applies.