Sam Kemp wrote:

>Does anyone know which of Haydn's masses are classified as the "late
>masses"? And does anybody have a preferred cycle of these that they could
>recommend to me?

Conventionally, it's numbers 9-14:

Phenomenal music, all written after the "London" Symphonies, the last two
also after the great late oratorios, "The Creation" and "The Seasons"

    9. "Heiligmesse", 1796
   10. "Mass in time of war", or "Paukenmesse" 1796
   11. "Lord Nelson Mass", 1798
   12. "Theresienmesse",  1799
   13. "Schoepfungsmesse", 1801
   14. "Harmoniemesse", 1802.

No idea what the cyclic recording situation would be.  The Haydn masses
were one of the great discoveries of the early LP days..

There's a fine new Naxos recording of the Lord Nelson Mass by Bela Drahos,
the Esterhazy Sinfonia and Hungarian RTV chorus, coupled with the earlier
"Kleine Orgelmesse".

Best wishes for happy listening!

Joel Lazar
Bethesda MD