Reviewed by Steven Whitehead

The opening two thirds of the hour on this disc are devoted to Leo¨ Janáček (1854 - 1928). In the opening years of the 20th century he was working on a Latin Mass for chorus and organ which in 1927 he used as the basis of a more ambitious project: a full-scale orchestral Mass with a text in Glagol, the Slavonic literary language established in Janáček's native Moravia in the ninth century. The version on this mid-price reissue from 1994 is the first recording of the original version, edited by Paul Wingfeld. The final third of the hour is given to Kodály's "Psalmus Hungaricus", a 1923 commission to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the unification of three separate cities to create Budapest. Thus it could be argued that both pieces are more about national pride than spiritual matters although the two are not necessarily incompatible. Both are performed by the Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir under the baton of that most distinguished supporter of Janáček's work, Sir Charles Mackerras, who steers us through the challenges of both pieces with his usual deft touch.

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