From Anxiety to Jubilation: Boston Baroque’s New Recording of Haydn's "Lord Nelson Mass"

Oct. 18, 2013 - PRLog -- On Monday, April 15, 2013, more than 20,000 people were running in the Boston Marathon while the 58 instrumentalists and singers of Boston Baroque were rehearsing for a new recording and upcoming concerts. Two explosions near the finish line of the Marathon irrevocably altered the lives of all Bostonians, and would have an effect on the recording and concerts as well.

That recording - Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass and Symphony No. 102 - features soprano Mary Wilson, mezzo-soprano Abigail Fischer, mezzo-soprano Abigail Fischer, tenor Keith Jameson, and bass-baritone Kevin Deas, with Boston Baroque’s orchestra and chorus under the direction of Music Director Martin Pearlman. It will be released in the United States on Tuesday, October 29, 2013 by Linn Records (CKD 426). The new hybrid SACD can be pre-ordered on Amazon.com, and is available now for digital download from the Linn Records website (www.linnrecords.com).

Martin Pearlman offers a reflection on this recording, to be included in the CD liner notes:

“During our first rehearsal of the two pieces on this recording, the city of Boston was jolted by the news of the terrorist bombing at the Boston Marathon. After the wild swing of events during the ensuing days, our first performance was cancelled, due to a lock-down of the entire city. To be involved during that time in the music that Haydn called Missa in Angustiis (translated variously as ‘Mass in difficult, or uncertain, or anxious, times’) took on unexpected meaning for our musicians, as well as for our audience. Performing and recording this particular mass -- as well as the jubilant Symphony No. 102 -- provided comfort and release to all of us and made us thankful once again for the greatness and universality of Haydn’s genius.”

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FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN (1732-1809)

LORD NELSON MASS (Missa in Angustiis | Mass in Anxious Times)

SYMPHONY NO. 102 in B-flat Major

Linn Records (CKD 426) • Hybrid SACD, playable on all CD players

Boston Baroque • Martin Pearlman, conductor • Mary Wilson, soprano • Abigail Fischer, mezzo-soprano • Keith Jameson, tenor • Kevin Deas, bass-baritone

HAYDN: LORD NELSON MASS is available for pre-order online at Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Lord-Nelson-Mass-Haydn/dp/B009H75BUQ/ref=sr_1_4?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1380218189&sr=1-4&keywords=haydn+lord+nelson+mass

Available in stores October 29, 2013

Studio Master high resolution downloads available at www.linnrecords.com

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About Boston Baroque • Boston Baroque is the first permanent Baroque orchestra established in North America and is widely regarded as being among the world’s leading period-instrument ensembles. Founded in 1973 as Banchetto Musicale by Music Director Martin Pearlman, the Boston Baroque orchestra is made up of some of the finest period-instrument players in the U.S.; they are frequently joined by the company’s professional chorus and by instrumental and vocal soloists from around the world. The ensemble presents an annual subscription series of five programs that are performed at New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall or Harvard University’s Sanders Theatre, plus occasional additional concerts at other venues.

Boston Baroque also reaches an audience of millions of listeners around the globe with more than 20 critically-acclaimed recordings, which have been recognized with three Grammy® nominations. With its 2012 recording of Haydn’s Creation, Boston Baroque began a new recording relationship with the audiophile European label Linn Records, named by Gramophone as Label of the Year in 2010.

Boston Baroque made an acclaimed appearance in 2009 with two programs at the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico, and performed Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 to a sold-out crowd and standing ovation in New York’s Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in March 2010. The ensemble made its European debut in 2003, performing Handel’s Messiah to capacity crowds in Krakow and Warsaw, Poland, and toured the Vespers to Los Angeles’ Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Ravinia Festival in Chicago, and Tanglewood in 2004.

About Martin Pearlman • Martin Pearlman, founder and continuing Music Director of Boston Baroque, is a conductor, harpsichordist, composer and early-music specialist, and is one of America’s leading interpreters of Baroque and Classical music. Highlights of his work include the complete Monteverdi opera cycle, with his own new performing editions of The Coronation of Poppea and The Return of Ulysses; the American premiere of Rameau’s Zoroastre; Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride and Alceste; a survey of Beethoven symphonies on period instruments; major Handel operas including Alcina, Agrippina, Semele, Xerxes and Partenope; and a Mozart series including Abduction from the Seraglio, The Magic Flute, Marriage of Figaro, Così fan tutte and the North American period instrument premiere of Don Giovanni.

Mr. Pearlman made his Kennedy Center debut with The Washington Opera in Handel’s Semele, and has guest conducted the National Arts Centre Orchestra of Ottawa, Utah Opera, Opera Columbus, Boston Lyric Opera, Minnesota Orchestra, San Antonio Symphony and New World Symphony. Recent compositions by Mr. Pearlman include The Creation according to Orpheus for solo piano, harp, percussion and string orchestra; and music for three plays of Samuel Beckett, commissioned by and premiered at New York’s 92nd Street Y and performed in Cambridge in 2007. Writing in the Boston Globe, Anthony Tommasini said: “If fans of Boston Baroque wonder why Pearlman’s conducting is so insightful, it’s because he knows, as only a composer can, how music goes.”

Mr. Pearlman is Professor of Music in Historical Performance at the Boston University School of Music.

Boston Baroque gratefully acknowledges the following contributors, whose generous support helped to make this recording possible:

The Calderwood Charitable Foundation: Norma Jean Calderwood Recording Series

Mortimer Charitable Lead Trust