Search - Anton Bruckner, Matthew Best, Juliet Booth :: Bruckner - Mass in F minor / Booth, Rigby, Ainsley, Howell, Corydon Singers and Orchestra, Best

Bruckner's three Masses all precede his great symphonies, and with the third and last of them he was clearly on the verge of his mature style. The lines are longer, the brass writing broader, and the harmonies acquire a freedom and expressiveness unique to this composer. The early Masses are important works in many respects. They are the finest 19t-century settings of the text since Haydn, and they reveal the spiritual confidence that was the source of Bruckner's musical inspiration. It's been said that all of his music, whether choral or purely instrumental, is religious music. Get to know these works and when you listen to the symphonies, you will know that this is the truth. --David Hurwitz