Mozart's Great Mass in C minor, York Minster

Brinsley performed with the University of York Symphony Orchestra in the 2023/24 season finale in York Minster, part of the York Festival of Ideas, where the orchestra was joined by the University of York Choir and The 24 under Robert Hollingworth and John Stringer. Mozart’s unfinished Mass in C minor shared the programme with Bruckner’s Te Deum and two of his motets, in the composer’s bicentenary year, and with Elgar’s Elegy for strings.¹

Programme

W. A. Mozart Mass in C minor, K. 427
Anton Bruckner Locus iste · Christus factus est · Te Deum in C
Edward Elgar Elegy, Op. 58

Conductors: Robert Hollingworth, John Stringer
Soloists: Elspeth Piggott, Rebecca Lea, Helena Cooke, James Beddoe, Patrick Osborne · Solo violin: Michael Capecci

There was “much to admire”, the review said, from “fine, crisp string playing in the Gloria” to a “very fine Benedictus” from the four soloists. Of The 24 in the Bruckner motets it concluded that “it doesn’t come much better”, praising “clarity, balance, detail and very real musical insight”, while Elgar’s Elegy proved “a delightful jewel of a work”.²

More: The soloists