Die Schöpfung &amp; Harmoniemesse (Leonard Bernstein recording)Die Schöpfung &amp; Harmoniemesse (Leonard Bernstein recording) Die Schöpfung & Harmoniemesse (Leonard Bernstein recording) 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 – since renamed the Avery Fisher 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." Roger Fiske reviewed the "Harmoniemesse" on LP in "Gramophone" in December 1975, comparing it with an Argo disc of the Mass conducted by George Guest and released in 1966. Bernstein's soloists, he thought, sounded as though they were "behind the orchestra and in amongst the chorus", Guest's as though they were standing much closer. Bernstein's arrangement was possibly in accord  with the custom of Haydn's own day, but seemed to deny his soloists as much scope for self-expression as had been enjoyed by Guest's. Bernstein's chorus itself was "of the highest class", as was his orchestra, which demonstrated its virtuosity by coping with the breakneck pace that he had adopted, perhaps unwisely, for the end of the "Agnus Dei". The audio quality of his disc was fairly good, even if his balance engineer had allowed his woodwinds to "occasionally sound unnaturally prominent". Bernstein's was "a strong, vivid performance", but, although there was little to choose  between the two discs, Guest's was the better both technologically and musically. David S. Gutman reviewed "Die Schöpfung" and the "Harmoniemesse" coupled on CD in "Gramophone" in May 1993. Bernstein's "Die Schöpfung", he thought, was among the conductor's better essays in Haydn. Yes, the solo singing was problematic, and Judith Raskin had been "much criticized for her inadequate German". Yes, Bernstein's "tempi" were sometimes unorthodox. And yes, some numbers were hammy. But "the basic impression made [was] brisk and taut". As for the "Harmoniemesse", "featuring some big-name soloists", it was "exciting (if rough-and-ready )". The album as a whole was "well worth considering". Geraint Lewis included the album in a survey of the "Harmoniemesse" discography in "Gramophone" in April 2014. He made little mention of the soloists, noting only a "richly operatic contribution from a youthful Frederica von Stade". He found Joseph Flummerfelt's Westminster Choir "painfully stretched", and thought that their "democratic choral-society gusto" was not ideally suited to music meticulously crafted for performance during a religious service. He was happier with the relish that the orchestra displayed while delivering "big-boned Haydn in every sense". He characterized Bernstein's conducting as  galvanizing. "He clearly enjoys the music unreservedly and propels it forward with insight and enthusiasm", he wrote. His final verdict was that "the essential greatness of the music is not seriously compromised on this recording." Accolade. In the September 1975 issue of "Stereo Review", "Harmoniemesse" was included in the magazine's list of the "Best Recordings of the Month". Track listing, CD1. Joseph Haydn (1732–1809) Die Schöpfung, Oratorium für Solostimmen, Chor und Orchester (Vienna, 1798), Hob. XXI/2, with a text by Freiherr Gottfried van Swieten (1733-1803) after the "Book of Genesis" and "Paradise Lost" by John Milton (1608–1674) Part  One Part Two Track listing, CD2. Part Three Missa Nr. 12 B-Dur, Harmoniemesse (Eisenstadt, 1802), Hob. XXII/14 I Kyrie II Gloria III Credo IV Sanctus V Benedictus VI Agnus Dei Personnel. Performers. Die Schöpfung Harmoniemesse Release history. In 1968, CBS released "Die Schöpfung" as a double LP (catalogue number CBS 77221/1-2). In 1975, CBS released the "Harmoniemesse" as both a stereo LP (British catalogue number CBS 76410, American catalogue number M 33267) and a quadraphonic LP (American catalogue number MQ 33267). The four-channel release used Columbia's SQ stereo-quadraphonic matrix system. In 1992, CBS issued the  two works together on CD (catalogue number SM2K 47560) as the thirty-sixth of the hundred recordings in their Leonard Bernstein "Royal Edition", so called because each album in the series was illustrated with a watercolour by Prince Charles. The album was also available in a 37-CD box set titled "The Royal Edition: Vol. 2" (catalogue number SX37K 48179). The album included a 92-page booklet which provided the text of the "Harmoniemesse" in English, French, German and Latin, and the text of "Die Schöpfung" and notes by Andreas Kluge and Prince Charles in English, French, German  and Italian. The booklet was illustrated with three of Prince Charles's paintings and five photographs of Bernstein. Die Schöpfung & Harmoniemesse (Leonard Bernstein recording) 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