Boston Baroque Presents Two Evenings of Haydn: Lord Nelson Mass and Symphony No. 102

BOSTON - March 22, 2013 - PRLog -- Boston, MA—Boston Baroque will present the final two concerts of the 2012 - 2013 Season on Friday and Saturday, April 19 and 20 at 8 PM at Boston's acoustically delightful Jordan Hall (30 Gainsborough Street, Boston, MA at New England Conservatory of Music).  Two Evenings of Haydn will offer Lord Nelson Mass and Symphony No. 102 in B flat Major.  Individual reserved-seat tickets priced at $76, $60, $42 and $22 are available now at http://www.bostonbaroque.org or by calling: 617-987-8600.  Jordan Hall is wheelchair accessible.

Music Director Martin Pearlman has just announced plans to record the entire April program on LINN Records for release in the fall of 2014.  

"Due to the critical success of our August release of The Creation on the UK audiophile label Linn Records, the company asked us to record another Haydn disc before moving on to other repertoire," said Martin Pearlman.  "We will therefore record Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass, but they have now also asked us to add one of Haydn's London symphonies to the disc, the Symphony No. 102 in B flat.  For that reason we have replaced one masterpiece with another on our April 19 - 20 performances.  We will play Haydn's Symphony No. 102 instead of the previously announced Beethoven's Second Symphony."

About the Haydn’s Creation release, Fanfare Magazine wrote: “[of all the] recordings of The Creation.  This one stands comfortably at the pinnacle."  

The soloists for the Lord Nelson Mass will be, Mary Wilson, soprano, Abigail Fischer, mezzo-soprano, Keith Jameson, tenor and Kevin Deas, bass-baritone.  Both Jameson and Deas received outstanding praise for their performances on the recording of The Creation.  Fanfare Magazine wrote, “Pearlman’s vocal soloists are each superb, in voice and in delivery . . .” and Time Out New York wrote of the soloists:  “splendid, agile bass Kevin Deas; deft, ultra-charming Met tenor Keith Jameson.”

The Missa in Angustiis ("Mass for troubled times") or Lord Nelson Mass (Hob. XXII:11), is one of fourteen masses written by Joseph Haydn. It is one of the six masses written near the end of his life which are now seen as a culmination of Haydn's liturgical composition.  Haydn's chief biographer, H. C. Robbins Landon, has written that this mass "is arguably Haydn's greatest single composition."

The Symphony No. 102 in B flat major is the tenth of the twelve so-called London Symphonies written by Joseph Haydn and it was completed in 1794.  It is now believed by many scholars to be the symphony [and not Symphony No. 96 called "Miracle"] at the premiere of which a chandelier fell from the ceiling of the concert hall in which it was performed!  Fortunately, the audience escaped unharmed, supposedly because they had rushed the stage.   The work is in standard four-movement form and scored for two flutes, two oboes, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani and strings.

Boston Baroque is the first permanent Baroque orchestra established in North America.  It will soon celebrate its 40th Anniversary and is widely regarded as “one of the world’s premier period-instrument bands" (Fanfare).  Martin Pearlman, American conductor, harpsichordist, composer, early music specialist and founder of Boston Baroque, is one of this country’s leading interpreters of baroque and classical music.

Friday, April 19 and Saturday, April 20 at 8:00 PM
pre-concert talk with Laura Stanfield Prichard at 7:00 PM
NEC's Jordan Hall, 30 Gainsborough Street, Boston
Haydn:  Lord Nelson Mass
Haydn:  Symphony No. 102 in B flat Major
Mary Wilson, soprano
Abigail Fischer, mezzo-soprano
Keith Jameson, tenor
Kevin Deas, bass-baritone
Tickets:  $76, $60, $42 & $22   http://www.bostonbaroque.org
or call:  617-987-8600