Die Schöpfung & Harmoniemesse is a 1992, 149-minute CD issue of two studio recordings of classical vocal works by Joseph Haydn, both accompanied by the New York Philharmonic and conducted by Leonard Bernstein. The oratorio Die Schöpfung (The Creation), sung by Judith Raskin, John Reardon, Alexander Young and the Camerata Singers, was first released in 1968. The Harmoniemesse (Wind Band Mass), sung by Judith Blegen, Simon Estes, Kenneth Riegel, Frederica von Stade and the Westminster Choir, was first released in 1975.
Recording
Die Schöpfung was recorded using analogue technology on 17, 18 and 20 May 1966 in the Philharmonic Hall – afterwards renamed the Avery Fisher Hall, and then the David Geffen Hall – in the Lincoln Center, New York City. The Harmoniemesse was recorded using analogue quadraphonic (four-channel) technology in February 1973 in the Manhattan Center, also in New York City.
Packaging
The cover of the album, designed by C. C. Garbers, features a photograph by Lesley Donald of a 1991 watercolour by the Prince of Wales: View of Ben Avon, Balmoral. (The back of the album credits the painting to A. G. Carrick Ltd, a company set up by the Prince of Wales to exploit his intellectual property rights for the benefit of The Prince of Wales's Charitable Fund. A. G. Carrick is an alias that the Prince derived in jest from his full, formal title: His Royal Highness Prince Charles Philip Arthur George, Prince of Wales, Earl of Chester, Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland.) Also on the album's cover are a photograph of Bernstein by Ludwig Schirmer and a photograph of the Prince by dpa/Camera Press.
Critical reception
Reviews
Alec Robertson reviewed Die Schöpfung on LP in Gramophone in January 1969, comparing Bernstein's recording with what he considered to be the best of its predecessors, a 1968 Decca album conducted by Karl Münchinger. In the work's Introduction, Haydn's depiction of the world's primordial chaos, Münchinger, he wrote, offered "mystery and awe", Bernstein drama and colour. In Bernstein's recording, "God was not so much moving over the face of the water as being moved", driven across it by the conductor. This contrast between Münchinger's and Bernstein's approaches continued when the archangel Raphael began his narration. Where Münchinger's Tom Krause sang "in hushed tones", Bernstein's John Reardon sang "loudly, and so [destroyed] the atmosphere just created". Matters improved on Bernstein's album when Alexander Young delivered Uriel's "Now vanish before the holy beams", Bernstein laudably animating a "rhythmic vitality... admirably suited to this work". Young's virile singing and the more lyrical performance of Münchinger's Werner Krenn were both enjoyable in their own way. As the soprano archangel, Gabriel, Münchinger's Elly Ameling was unequivocally better than Bernstein's Judith Raskin, with "more variation of tone" and "more sensitive feeling" than the American. The albums' rival choirs and orchestras all had much to commend them. Bernstein's Camerata Singers sang with "great enjoyment and excellent tone"; Münchinger's Vienna State Opera Chorus with superior diction. Similarly, where Bernstein's New York Philharmonic provided "finely pointed orchestral detail", Münchinger's Vienna Philharmonic had a string section that the Americans could not equal. Bernstein's album was better engineered than Münchinger's, offering "bright recording", "great clarity" and "excellent balance". In sum, though, even if Bernstein's release gave "considerable pleasure and [had] a great deal to recommend it", Münchinger's version was the more desirable of the two overall.
Richard Freed reviewed the Harmoniemesse on LP in Stereo Review in September 1975. "There can be few scores of any kind", he wrote, "whose vigour, joy and unlaboured exaltation find so close a parallel in the characteristics of Bernstein's music-making." All four vocal soloists sang well, particularly Frederica von Stade in the Gloria's "Gratias agimus tibi" and Judith Blegen in the Credo's "Et incarnatus est". The chorus was no less impressive, if it could perhaps have sung even more lustily than it did. The New York Philharmonic, sometimes disappointing with other conductors, was on its best form for Bernstein. The recording quality was variable, but mostly satisfactory. "One hesitates to overwork such words as 'inspiration' and 'glory'," Freed concluded, "but these are the qualities that shine from every bar of this beautiful performance."