For more than three decades, Leonard Bernstein's Mass has only been available in the Columbia Masterworks and Sony editions, conducted by the composer.
Kent Nagano's ambitious recreation for Harmonia Mundi provides an alternate interpretation, varied here and there in tempi, in minor changes of lyrics, and in slightly different characterizations of the various "street" soloists. But on the whole, it offers no important musical improvements over
Bernstein's rendition, and may even be judged inferior for its sterile imitation of the earlier recording's social outrage and ecstatic ecumenical love-fest. The 1971 recording is certainly over the top in all of its emotions, but this 2004 version is too careful to avoid giving offense. In the role of Celebrant, Jerry Hadley almost copies Alan Titus point for point, yet brings to his performance an obvious love for the sound of his own voice and a preciousness that is annoyingly off the mark. Titus may have been a weaker singer, but his raw performance was far superior to Hadley's operatic preening. Boasting DSD sound and hybrid multichannel reproduction, the spacious recording captures Mass' enormous forces with fidelity, but also seems excessively resonant and indistinct in instrumental solos. In the end, despite
Nagano's earnest attempt to get it note-perfect, this set is no substitute for
Bernstein's inimitable original.