Mozart Complete Edition, Volume 22—Oratorios, Cantatas and Masonic Music. ^a Margaret Marshall, ^b Inge Nielsen, ^c Ileana Cotrubas, ^d Gabriele Fuchs (sops); ^e Margarita Zimmermann, ^f Ann Murray, ^g Hanna Schwarz, ^h Iris Vermillion (mezs); ⁱ Hans Peter Blochwitz, ^j Aldo Baldin, ^k Peter Schreier (tens); ^l Stephen Varcoe, ^m Andreas Schmidt (bars); ⁿ Walter Berry, (bass); ^o Raphael Alpermann (org); ^p Rudolf Jansen (pf); ^q South German Radio Chorus; ^r Salzburg Chamber Choir; ^s men's voices of the Leipzig Radio Chorus; ^t Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra / Sir Neville Marriner; ^u Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra / Leopold Hager; ^v Staatskapelle Dresden / Peter Schreier.

Philips Mozart Edition (Mid  price) (CD) 422 522-2PME6 (six discs, nas: 357 minutes: DDD/ADD). Texts and translations included.

Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots, K35 ^abfijt. Kommet her, ihr frechen Sunder, K146/317b ^ft. Grabmusik, K42/35a ^flqt (all from 422 360-2PH2, 9/90). La Betulia liberata, K118/74c ^cdeknru (from DG 2740 198, 2/79). Davidde penitente, K469 ^ahiqt (from 420 952-2PH, 9/88). Laut verkunde unsre Freude, K623 ^ikmsv. Adagio and Fugue in C minor, K546 ^v. Die ihr einen neuen Grade, K468 ^ip. O heiliges Band der Freundschaft treuer Bruder, K148/125h ^ip. Dir, Seele des Weltalls, K429/468a ^ksv. Maurerische Trauermusik, K477/479a ^v. Zerfliesset heut', geliebte Bruder, K483 ^ko. Ihr unsre neuen Leiter, K484 ^ko. Die Maurerfreude, K471 ^ksv. Die ihr des unermesslichen Weltalls Schopfer ehrt, K619 ^ip. Lasst uns mit geschlung'nen Handen, K623a ^io (all new to UK).

The six discs that constitute Volume 22 of the Philips Complete Mozart Edition come with a booklet so substantial that the word should surely lose its diminishing suffix: this is a book, in fact, that contains no less than 288 pages. It offers essays in four languages, each by a different scholar, plus texts and parallel translations of the works performed, and a host of illustrations ranging from 17 full-page ones of the artists involved to contemporary documents and portraits including a reproduction of the first manuscript of the oratorio that Mozart composed in 1771, La Betulia liberata. With the best will in the world, I do find this heavy scholarly apparatus more daunting than enticing, but there it is, completeness is completeness in the bicentenary year and one can hardly complain that Philips are being ungenerous in their provision of this mass of Mozartian and musicological material.

In any case, it is the music that really counts, and, as Peter Branscombe reminds us at the beginning of his 13-page essay, here we have works written between Mozart's twelfth year and his thirty-sixth and last. Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots was first performed in Salzburg on March 12th, 1767 (Professor Branscombe also quotes a contemporary text stating that the composer was "aetat 10 years" at the time), and doubtless the commission for this "sacred Singspiel" was a milestone for him. The title means "The Obligation of the First Commandment", and it unfolds a moral and mildly dramatic tale in which the characters are called Christian Spirit, Worldly Spirit, Justice, Compassion and so on. As listening, it is perfectly acceptable but even the skilful singing and playing here cannot disguise the sometimes thin conventionality of the young composer's music or make one unconscious of longueurs during the course of a disc and a half, and since parts of the score are in his father's handwriting one cannot but wonder how far it is truly authentic. There is little ensemble work before the cheerful trio finale, which makes for limited variety in a work of this length. A curiosity, therefore. It does, however, deserve to be available in this stylish account, for it is not without some passages that really do hold the attention, such as Compassion's florid aria on the hunting lion of sin on track 5 of the first disc and the Worldly Spirit's seductive minuet three tracks later (her singer, Inge Nielsen, also has a fine aria on track 2 of the second CD), while the recitatives are done well enough to remain fairly interesting. There is an imaginative and well-played trombone obbligato to the tenor on track 10 of the first disc, and indeed Sir Neville Marriner and his Stuttgart orchestra are admirably stylish throughout.

The Passion aria Kommet her, ihr frechen Sunder takes us on over a decade to 1779 and is more eloquent and musically compelling, especially when sung as purely as it is here by Ann Murray; here, too, there are good touches such as the contribution of a solo violin. The Grabmusik cantata is another boyhood piece (1767) and a great deal bouncier and catchier than its title might lead us to expect—try track 9 on disc 2 for a sample of music that is so cheerful that one wonders how much the young composer was thinking about the funereal words. Here too, at long last, we reach a chorus with the final number.

La Betulia liberata, an oratorio to an Italian text by Metastasio that was commissioned for Padua but seemingly unperformed there, is another worthy work, if hardly an inspired one. The story is a biblical one from the apocryphal Book of Judith, and the overture in D minor rightly prepares us for some Old Testament-style passion. The boy Mozart's azione sacra is a big piece in two parts (effectively, acts even if not so-called) each lasting some 70 minutes, and here again the skilful portrayals of Judith and Ozias by the mezzo Hanna Schwarz and the tenor Peter Schreier complement the skilful but not entirely characterful writing, and Leopold Hager conducts persuasively. But this early work suffers because we are unable to hear it without thinking how much more personal and subtle Mozart's characterization would have been 15 years later at the time of the great operas. "An astonishing piece of work" is Peter Branscombe's view of the score, but in my view it is pale in comparison with what he achieved once out of the formative teenage years represented by this music. However, the chorus in praise of Judith (who will soon cut off the head of the sleeping Holofernes and carry it off triumphantly), ending Part 1, is effective, and so is the chorus, complete with boasts from the formidable aforesaid lady, that ends the oratorio.

I am more in agreement with Peter Branscombe when he calls Davidde penitente "a fascinating work". This is, of course, a later piece (1785) and calls on a variety of vocal forces, not least the chorus, in a way that immediately brings to mind the mature C minor Mass of two years before—of which it is, in fact, a straightforward recycling. Indeed, it borrows complete movements from it for setting to new Italian words, perhaps by da Ponte, telling of the penitential King David—and it also looks forward (especially because of the minor key) to the Requiem. This is powerful music and, as HF said in her review of the performance as first issued three years ago, the three solo singers and Marriner make it "tinglingly alive". The last disc of the set of six has Masonic music that is well directed by Peter Schreier with the Staatskapelle Dresden. Schreier also sings fervently in other pieces deriving from the composer's adoption of Freemasonry in 1784. This is music that ranges from a stiffly earnest and virtuous utterance to real depth. The Adagio and Fugue in C minor, together with the Masonic Funeral Music, represent the only purely instrumental work in the set, and not surprisingly they are in no way the less eloquent for doing without voices and texts.

CH