Neukomm: Missa Solemnis, Requiem – Jean-Claude Malgoire

   in Choir & Organ (Jan, 2019)
Neukomm would be largely forgotten if it weren’t for Jean- Claude Malgoire (a true believer), who has also recorded an earlier Requiem, written for Prince Talleyrand in memory of the guillotined Louis XVI (and premiered with Salieri as co-conductor). The Missa solemnis, one of 50 Masses that he composed in a long career, was for John VI of Portugal and premiered in Rio de Janeiro in 1818, which gives some sense of where the composer’s political sympathies may have lain. Perhaps this is why he is forgotten. The music always seems to strain for courtly effect and grandeur, but is often betrayed by wobbly architecture and too much gilt. The St …