Jan Ladislav Dussek was perhaps Europe's greatest pianist until Beethoven came along, and much of his music involves the piano. He wrote works in many genres, however, including some substantial choral music at the end of his life that, in places, looked forward to Schubert. Consider this Messe Solemnelle in G major, an hourlong work that receives not only its world premiere recording but possibly its first performance in any form; it was discovered by Academy of Ancient Music director Richard Egarr in a Florence library. Physical CD buyers will get a weighty scholarly apparatus, but even online listeners will find an enjoyable work that could easily find its way into the choral repertory. Dussek's setting of the mass text is impressively varied: he has some splendid fugues, not always in the usual places (try the Kyrie II). The Resurrexit is marked by a big trumpet-and-timpani movement reminiscent of Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass, and in general, Dussek is closer to Haydn and to Beethoven's Mass in C major, Op. 86, of just a few years before, than he is to Mozart. There are operatic solos, and for these, one might hope, given the dimensions of the work, for more powerful singing than they receive here. There are non-contrapuntal choruses that have a warm, Schubertian quality even as they maintain considerable complexity. The most impressive example is the final Dona nobis pacem, weaving all of the forces together. The period instruments of Egarr's Academy of Ancient Music bring the work brilliantly to life even if the choir of 20 is a bit underpowered. In general, this album revives a lost work of real value, and it deserves the commercial success it has had.
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