Schubert, Mass in E flat major No.6, D. 950

Franz Schubert's Mass in E flat major D. 950 is an uncontested masterpiece of Viennese sacred music. Composed in 1828, the year of Schubert's death, it reaches a depth and a grandeur equaled in his sacred works perhaps only by the A flat major Mass. Did premonitions of his fatal illness and death stir him to pour his soul into this work? In any event, it breaks away from the rather perfunctory quality of his earlier masses. The tragic tones, austere contrapuntal textures and expressive, dramatic choral writing are nothing less than profoundly gripping. The unusually large wind section without flutes recalls Mozart's Requiem, which was the last composition written by Mozart before his death. The Vienna State Opera Chorus's All Saints' Day concert has become an institution in Vienna. Although the superbly homogeneous and subtly shading chorus plays the most important role throughout this concert, the orchestra also unfolds its warm and colorful and, at times, forceful personality. The concert in which this work was recorded took place on All Saints' Day 1986 under the musical direction of Claudio Abbado.