CD: Cherubini: Mass in F, Ziesak/ Muti, etc

Riccardo Muti, the most persuasive interpreter of Cherubini, follows up the success of his earlier recordings of that neglected composer's choral music with this lively account of the Mass in F, which in 1809 broke a creative block afflicting the composer.

In his enthusiasm, Cherubini wrote what was his most ambitious choral work to date: a massive 75-minute structure that in its inventiveness brings out the drama of the liturgy, just as Haydn's great masses had in the immediately preceding years.

Muti's live recording is not always perfectly polished, but in thrust and concentration the performance is most compelling, with the hushed account of Crucifixus bringing rapt choral singing. Characterful soloists, too, with the soprano, Ruth Ziesak, singing radiantly.