Schumann
's
Missa Sacra, Op. 147
, was one of the last things he wrote, and it wasn't published until after his death.
Brahms
and
Clara Schumann
covered it up (
Clara
later changed her mind about it), fearing that it would show evidence of
's mental decline. The work also took criticism from those who felt that the Catholic mass setting by the Protestant
was not sufficiently reverent. Perhaps for these reasons, the work has never been very popular; its last recording before this 2023 release came in
2013
. As it happens, it is marvelous, and it was probably just waiting for a top-notch reading of the sort that it receives here from the
Swedish Radio Choir
under its new conductor,
Kaspars Putnins
. The work resembles another ecumenical mass,
'
Ein deutsches Requiem, Op. 45
, in some ways: hear the warm tone of the Kyrie. However, there is more.
attempts to merge the rather conservative structure of the Classical mass with Romantic stylistic ideas, and the work is really not like anything else he (or
) ever wrote. Hear the Gloria, where a fugue is placed not at the end but toward the beginning, as a spontaneous expression of joy. The Incarnatus and Crucifixus are not set off from the rest of the music and have a real sense of narrative. The
Four Songs for Double Choir, Op. 141
, close out the program; written slightly earlier, they are rare and quite persuasive. Yet it is the mass that may rewrite the choral repertory lists a bit; in this lovely performance, it is a gem. ~ James Manheim