Despite his new career as a conductor of romantic and modern repertoire with the great symphony orchestras of Europe and America,
John Eliot Gardiner still finds the time to make the occasional recording with the
English Baroque Soloists and the
Monteverdi Choir, the band and chorus he founded and with which he rose to fame in the '80s. In this 2001 recording of Haydn's "Heiligmesse" and Missa in tempore belli,
Gardiner, the
English Baroque Soloists, and the
Monteverdi Choir cycle of Haydn's masses began with recordings of the "Schöpfungsmesse" and "Harmoniemesse." And for those listeners who treasure this combination of performers' light textures, lively rhythms, clear articulation, and balanced interpretations, that will be all they need to know in order to ensure their purchase. For those looking for a profound and moving performance of two of Haydn's most profound and moving masses, however, these performances will be disappointing. The
Monteverdi Choir sings well, but without much enthusiasm and without more than a cursory involvement with the meaning of the texts. Although one could complain about the strings' sometimes questionable intonation and the brass' tendency to squelch climaxes, the
English Baroque Soloists play reasonably well, but seems to be merely going through the score one note at a time.
Gardiner conducts as well as ever, that is, a great deal of energy but without a great deal of finesse, but his interpretations seem artificial and superficial. These performances are fine as far as they go, but they don't go very far.