There can be no doubt – the Missa in C minor KV 427 by W. A. Mozart is a fascinating work. Simply calling it a “mass” is inaccurate; indeed, there is hardly more than a musical torso full of enigmas and problems – and brimming with magnificent music. What has survived is a fragment, in more ways than one. Mozart left the work unfinished; moreover parts of the autograph have been lost. Carus has now produced a new edition which is not only based upon a profound knowledge of Mozart’s music and the church music practice of that time, but also meets with the current demands of performance practice. Frieder Bernius is the co-editor of the sheet music edition; he and his Kammerchor Stuttgart (Stuttgart Chamber Choir) recorded this version on CD. The recording impresses not only by the outstanding musical quality, but also by the particularly noble equipment in a hardcover booklet. In addition to the new version of the mass, the CD also contains a bonustrack with the Credo fragment without completed instrumental parts. A true discovery!

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Recorded at the evangelische Kirche Gonningen, 20-22 July 2016