Boston Baroque assembled a program around two pillars of the Classical repertoire: Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 in G Minor, K. 550 and Joseph Haydn’s Missa in Angustiis (“Lord Nelson Mass”). With guest conductor Patrick Dupré Quigley at the helm, the ensemble delivered clear historically informed playing that sounded nothing like museum music. Instead, it pulsed with urgency, color, and dramatic bite. The results on Friday night at Jordan Hall proved that period instruments can deliver not only clarity but also genuine musical adrenaline.
From the first restless murmur in the strings in Mozart’s G Minor Symphony, the orchestra established an atmosphere of coiled tension. BB’s period instruments gave the score a lean transparency, yet the sound remained warmly blended, allowing inner voices to speak with unusual clarity. Quigley conducted with a restraint that proved quietly commanding. His gestures were economical, almost discreet. Yet the orchestra responded with the precision and unanimity of musicians who clearly trusted the hand guiding them.
The famous opening movement unfolded with nervous urgency, its sighing motif darting through shifting shadows and flashes of light. In the Andante, the orchestra softened the air in the hall with gently pulsing strings and finely etched woodwind lines, the music’s grace tinged with just enough harmonic unease to keep sentimentality at bay. The minuet returned the symphony to darker ground. Its rhythmic tension crisply articulated before yielding to a luminous G-major trio of pastoral warmth.
By the finale, the ensemble seemed to lean into Mozart’s stormy imagination with relish. The violins’ racing figures had bite and brilliance, and the orchestra drove the movement forward with a sense of inevitability that made the final return to G minor feel both dramatic and completely earned.
Haydn wrote his Lord Nelson Mass in 1798 when Europe was gripped by war and uncertainty. His scoring for strings, organ, trumpets, and timpani gives the Mass a striking, almost martial brilliance, and Boston Baroque relished its dramatic contrasts. The brass and drums cut through the texture like flashes of lightning, while the strings and organ grounded the music in a solemn, prayerful gravity.
Four soloists made their Boston Baroque debuts: soprano Lauren Snouffer, mezzo-soprano Alex Hetherington, tenor Andrew Haji, and bass-baritone Philippe Sly. Snouffer proved the undeniable star of the quartet. Her gleaming soprano sailed easily through Haydn’s demanding writing, particularly in the radiant Et incarnatus est, where her tone floated above the strings with luminous serenity. Later, in the Et resurrexit, her dazzling command of the cascading triplet passages brought a thrilling lift to the music.
Hetherington contributed a rich, velvety mezzo that gave the opening of the Agnus Dei unusual warmth, while Haji’s clear, ringing tenor carried easily through the ensemble with elegant phrasing. Sly’s resonant bass-baritone anchored the quartet with authority—his fluid lines in the Qui tollis revealed both musical intelligence and formidable breath control.
The Boston Baroque Chorus, 25-voices strong, sang with impressive discipline and fervor. From their compact but vibrant sound, the intricate choral passages of the Gloria emerged with admirable clarity and rhythmic life. Meanwhile the orchestra matched the singers with precision and verve. Special praise belongs to the natural trumpets of Justin Bland, Luke Balslov, and Jesse Levine, whose brilliant, ringing sound lent the score its unmistakable ceremonial splendor.
The evening showed Boston Baroque at the height of its powers. Quigley’s poised leadership allowed both Mozart’s restless elegance and Haydn’s dramatic sweep to unfold with striking immediacy. If you didn’t attend, you missed an evening of rare musical vitality. Fortunately, you have another opportunity to catch this program when it returns on Sunday, March 8th at 3:00 p.m. It would be wise not to miss it twice.