Missa Solemnis Op 123 in D Major

1. Mass for soloists, chorus, & orchestra in D major ("Missa Solemnis"), Op. 123
Composed by Ludwig van Beethoven
with Aldo Baldin , Pamela Coburn , Walter Forchert , Florence Quivar , Andreas Schmidt
Conducted by Helmuth Rilling

Tracks:

Symphony No. 5 In C Minor, Op.67: Napoleon Shells Vienna
Fur Elise: Childhood Dreams
Symphony No. 3 In E-flat Major, Op. 55: Ludwig And Julia At Schonbrunn Palace Gardens
Piano Sonata No. 14 (Quasi Una Fantasia) In C-sharp Minor, Op. 27, No. 2 'Moonlight': Julia And Her Father Secretly Watch
Symphony No. 6 In F Major, Op.68 'Pastoral': Ludwig And Caspar Fight
Piano Trio No. 4 In D Major, Op. 70 No. 1 'Ghost': Ludwig Consols Anna Marie
Violin Concerto In D Major, Op. 61: The Beethoven Brothers In Baden
Piano Sonata No. 8 In C Minor, Op. 13 'Pathetique': A Concert For Lichnowsky
Piano Concerto No. 5 In E-Flat Major, Op. 73 'Emperor': The Letter
Missa Solemnis In D Major, Op.123: The Funeral
Symphony No. 7 In A Major, Op. 92: Karl At The Ruins
Violin Sonata In A Major, Op. 47 'Kreutzer': The Carriage Stuck In The Mud
Symphony No. 9 In D Minor, Op. 125: The Night Of The Premiere

Customer Reviews:

Below Average Beethoven Performances.......2007-03-10

It is unfortunate that they chose Solti's direction for the symphonic pieces in this soundtrack as he is simply one of the worst conductors for Beethoven. His direction is so slow one would think he is leading a funeral procession instead of music inspired by the French Revolution.

Of all old school directors such as Karajan, Toscanini, etc., Solti's performances are simply morbidly slow to the point of killing the grieving attendants with boredom. The cacophony of the oversized orchestra doesn't help either. Solti's interpretations are even too slow for a requiem. You think a regular interpretation of the 7th's second movement is slow? Wait 'til you hear this one; you're going to need a massage you'll be so stiff. The 9th symphony march is supposed to be a brisk revolutionary march calling the citizens to arms and to join the militia marching through a town. With Solti you imagine only a funeral procession coming through the town. In the Fifth the whole orchestra is almost struggling to slow down to match the strings. Karajan's interpretations are not particularly fast either but at least he breathes some life into them and the orchestra. I personally like Toscanini in terms of the old 20th century symphonic conductors and Gardiner's traditional interpretations that are at least at a correct speed and give the listener the impression they are marching off as part of a revolutionary batallion to bring liberty to the oppressed instead of being rolled to the morgue. Beethoven was a revolutionary anti-monarchist and strongly supported the idea of political change. Although Periah is a great pianist for Beethoven's concertos, there are simply better performances by him that fortunately aren't conducted by Solti such as on Sony with Bernard Haitink and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. The same goes for the performances with Axe and Yo-Yo Ma. Gidon Kramer's performance for the Violin Concerto in D is also mediocre at best: there are better violinists out there than Kremer for Beethoven.

This is just not the best CD to get quality performances of Beethoven's works. Overall, Solti's interpretations are simply too sluggish and indecipherable to represent the ideals of Beethoven's music. Solti would definitely be my last choice for anything. You won't lose anything by not buying this soundtrack that's for sure: Solti's interpretations are so slow they will simply fossilize you.

Immortal beloved film.......2007-02-06

having watched a recording of Immortal beloved for a number of years the tape was past its best. now that i have the chance of ordering on line i did , and a good move it was. It was nice to see the film and things so clear, i had not see before, the writing on the love letter at the begining and tears that was shed. Iam very pleased with the dvd.

Living Perfection.......2007-01-14

This is one of the most perfect CDs I own, it's one I come back to time and time again. The recording quality is excellent - even on the cassette, which I've finally replaced after 12 years - but even better, the musical interpretation is splendid. Anyone who thinks that classical music is no longer relevant in our culture needs to buy this CD.

A wonderful tribute to the artist.......2005-05-25

This CD is perfect in my opinion. The recording is perfect, the pitch is perfect, the tempo is perfect, and the track selections are perfect. I think the album samples Beethoven's most remarkable pieces of work from his early years to his death. I have heard many recordings of the Ninth symphony that was just executed poorly; which is a shame because it is such a powerful piece. However, this album does it superbly. Sir Georg Solti and Murray Perahia did an amazing job with this album.

The album just flows really well from one piece to the next evoking a vast array of emotions along the way. Beethoven is timeless and forever will be. There is no comparison even to this day. This a wonderful tribute to the artist.

Very emotional and moving!!.......2005-05-23

I am a big fan of classical music. Beethoven, in my opinion, was one of the best composers, Mozart 1st, Beethoven 2nd, etc. This album is very moving and filled with emotion. I am currently listening to Adagio Cantabile-from Piano Sonata No. 8-from the film album. This piece is so moving and emotional. Another piece was Moonlight Sonata which I especially liked. Beethoven loads this piece with love and emotion for his one true love. In my opinion, Beethoven was the best at writing emotional and moving music. Whenever I listen to his music, I am immersed in a world of emotion and feeling. His music is truly beautiful. Back to the album, Sir Georg Solti really captured Beethoven's genius and devotion to his music in this album. This album really accents the film. You cannot have one, you must have both the film and the soundtrack. This is a must have for classical music/Beethoven fanatics and people who want to get a great summary of Beethoven's genius. BUY THIS!!!!

Beethoven - Missa Solemnis / Margiono * Robbin * Kendall * Miles * EBS * Gardiner

Average customer rating:

Exquisite!
Hairs on End
Wonderful Performance, Problematic Engineering
Inspiring
Bland, dry, and uninspired

Beethoven - Missa Solemnis / Margiono * Robbin * Kendall * Miles * EBS * Gardiner
Ludwig van Beethoven , John Eliot Gardiner , Charlotte Margiono , Catherine Robbin , The English Baroque Soloists , The Monteverdi Choir , William Kendall , and Alastair Miles
Manufacturer: Archiv Produktion
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B0000057DP
Release Date: 1991-02-08

Tracks:

Missa Solemnis: Kyrie - Assai sostenuto (Mit Andacht)
Missa Solemnis: Gloria (Allegro vivace)
Missa Solemnis: Credo (Allegro ma non troppo)
Missa Solemnis: Sanctus - Adagio (Mit Andacht)
Missa Solemnis: Agnus Dei - Adagio

Amazon.com essential recording

John Eliot Gardiner's interpretation of the Missa Solemnis stands as one of the crowning accomplishments of his career and one of the most impressive achievements of the period-instrument movement. The concept is grand and powerful, lively though not unduly brisk. The execution is simply electrifying: Gardiner has the orchestra on the edge of their seats, the chorus going all-out, and sparks flying everywhere. Excellent singing from the soloists and a vivid recording complete the triumph, and it's all on a single disc. --Ted Libbey

Customer Reviews:

Exquisite!.......2007-02-17

I'm not typically a big period instruments fan, but this recording was fabulous. With the singing and excitement at such a high level, I really didn't even notice the period instrumentation.

I have not listened to all of the other versions, so I have no basis for comparisons, but I have a hard time believing that ANYONE would be disappointed with this recording. This is far superior to the recording I used to own of this piece (Robert Shaw, maybe?). Now, I can truly see what all of the fuss is about regarding this piece!

Hairs on End.......2007-02-12

When I was in college I had the incredible experience of singing in the chorus for the Beethoven 9th with Kurt Masur and the Leipzig Gewanthaus. I floated on air for days after the performance. During rehearsal, Maestro Masur gave a talk about his thoughts on the 9th in relation to the Missa. He said that the Missa was Beethoven arguing with God with that argument being be resolved in the 9th. From a musical, but not textual standpoint, I could see his point of view.

Gardiner seems to subscribe to this viewpoint: he brings out the fury of the music in a way that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. The playing is intense and precise. The clarity of textures adds to the drama. Gardiner doesn't hold anything back. And, contrary to some opinions here, the playing is extremely musical. From my standpoint this is one of the most breathtaking recordings I've ever heard. It is also far superior to the Karajan snooze-fest.

Wonderful Performance, Problematic Engineering.......2006-05-21

Gardiner's is a performance that eschews self-conscious, often grandiose attempts at "profundity" (unlike the Levine, for instance), and instead brings out the cosmic surge and dynamism that is hard wired into this music, but so often buried beneath layers of "solemnity". Fifteen years after I first heard it, it remains my reference for the score, alongside George Szell's similarly dynamic and bracing live performance with the Cleveland Orchestra (only available, I believe, as part of a 6 CD set from the orchestra). There are other ways to play the work, and I own quite a few of those as well; but the Gardiner approach strikes me as a revelation.

If there's a problem with the Gardiner, it's the engineering. This is one of the ugliest-sounding orchestral recordings that I have ever heard - and that's saying a lot. It sounds as if the engineer has employed as many microphones as Beethoven did instruments and voices. Heard through an audiophile system, there is no central sonic image whatsoever, no sense of the music coming alive within the expanse of the listening area. The overall sound is sterile, cold, and virtually un-listenable on revealing audio systems that tend at all towards brightness. As much as I love this performance, it's remains for me a headphones-only affair.

Inspiring.......2006-05-09

This to me is very moving music and I would not describe myself as a religious person but then I don't have to be to admire great music. The orchestra and the choir play and sing with great passion and precision. John Eliot Gardiner adopts faster speeds than normal but still manages to allow his forces the time to articulate their parts. The soloist blend so well together and for me this disc is a must. I have heard a number of the other versions of this music noted in previous reviews but for me this is the version all other must now be judged by.

Bland, dry, and uninspired.......2006-02-03

This review will undoubtedly offend the period-instrument crowd. After hearing Robert Shaw's recording, I thought surely it was impossible to have less inspired recording of this piece, unless, of course, your inspiration is to make music that is "correct" instead of music that is good.

Yes, the playing and singing is always accurate and precise, but is that what makes a performance great? Listen to Karajan's recording and you will hear mistakes all over, but you don't care because you are so caught up in the energy and beauty of the performance that you do not care.

The Credo is perhaps the worst movement. Gardiner chooses a ridiculously fast tempo that makes it sound like a drinking song, not a proclamation of faith.

Gardiner being the ultimate literalist chooses not to bring in the chorus at "Pleni sunt coeli." The only other recording I know of is an old LP of Klemperer which I do not think has been released on CD. Though that is what the score says, it does not make musical sense at all, which is why most conductors opt to introduce the chorus there.

By the way, if JEG was so concerned about recreating the "authentic" (whatever that means) sound that Beethoven would have heard, why did he choose to have the singers use ecclesiastical Latin. Would Viennese Latin not be much more appropriate? Just a thought.

If like dull, uninspired recordings of masterpieces, then this is the disc for you. If like me you prefer not to have the life sucked out of music, then stay away from this CD.

Average customer rating:

Missa Solemnis new CD of a classic!
vintage Beethoven perfectly performed
Should you buy the latest remastering of this classic recording?
The Best
Unprecedented Majesty and Grandeur

Missa Solemnis in D major, op.123
L.V. Beethoven , Otto Klemperer , and New Philharmonia Orchestra
Manufacturer: EMI Classics
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B00005AVMH
Release Date: 2001-04-10

Tracks:

Kyrie
Gloria In Excelsis Deo
Qui Tollis
Quoniam Tu Solus Sanctus
Credo In Unum Deum
Et Incarnatus Est
Et Resurrexit
Sanctus
Benedictus
Agnus Dei
Dona Nobis Pacem

Customer Reviews:

Missa Solemnis new CD of a classic!.......2007-01-21

I remember the Klemperer phonograph recording from many years ago, when I was younger. It left an indelible impact and had not heard the Missa Solemnis for many years, until the CD was released by EMI Classics. Despite the recording being made over 40 years ago in 1965 it remains moving, uplifting and spiritual. The New Philharmonia Chorus was masterful and the quartet was well integrated. Listening to the music makes one wonder how could Beethoven write such dramatic and difficult to perform music. Otto Klemperer was 80 years old at the time of the recording and interestingly his son was Colonel Klink in Hogan's Heros. The low price is nice, however this is a recording that is justified at a much higher price. How in the world did the sopranos sustain the high Bb's in Credo (Et Vitam Venturi)? The end of the Gloria movement is the chorus proclaiming without instrumentation, "GLORIA".
This is a fitting salute to a glorious recording. Bill Turnage

vintage Beethoven perfectly performed.......2006-12-07

Beethoven was a tonal engineer who sought to channel mighty forces, and nowhere are they more powerful than in the Missa Solemnis. In this work Beethoven, the archetypical constructive composer, builds from scratch his conception of man's relation to the infinite. Although the textual framework is that of the religious mass, the conception is not religious in the ordinary sense but transcends it. Both highly personal yet universal, it points into the infinite. This tendency is present in all his greatest works and is responsible for the unfinished feeling -- the sense of having been left incomplete -- that they can give. In the Missa, too, we find the signature quirks of Beethoven -- the unprepared modulations, the seemingly arbitrary abruptness verging on impatience, the occasional imperfectly judged passage or repetition -- that remind us that yes, this is definitely Beethoven, and which in an ordinary composer could be considered flaws. Yet they are not so when taken in context. For Beethoven is concerned with the ongoing, and perfection would be incompatible with his goal. To put it another way, paraphrasing Stravinsky from his "Themes and Conclusions", Beethoven can sometimes be frustrating because we want what we love to be the way we want it to be. Well, it can't be that way, because then we would kill it; what Beethoven is concerned with is greater than any of us, and beyond even his power to describe fully.

The Missa is a difficult work to perform because of the disparate styles of its various parts. Loud fugato passages sit cheek by jowl with quiet sections of ethereal, otherworldly beauty, and some of the writing is surprisingly sensuous and romantically colored. Also much in evidence is the slow, ineffably expressive adagio which Beethoven invented and which occurs elsewhere in the late quartets, for example. Yet these sections when taken as a whole are not fundamentally incompatible. The conductor's problem is to keep focused on the ultimate goal and maintain an overall sense of direction, without getting mired in the exquisite details.

The ultimate test comes toward the middle of the Resurrexit, which is the crux of the matter and on which everything hangs. Many an interpretation will founder here. Not only is there a huge discontinuity, but the concluding vocal quartet is liable to seem puny in comparison, utterly trivial and pointless. The danger is great, for here the plate tectonics of Beethoven's mighty conception burst out and threaten to rupture the work. A thrilling kaleidoscopic succession of powerful inspirations builds and culminates in a majestic rising flood of sound. This flood has to be controlled. Klemperer solves the problem beautifully by tapering it not quite abruptly, yet within the space of a single measure, making it retreat into its classical matrix without extinguishing it. In this way he clinches the work and brings it safely home. Now the meaning of the ensuing quartet becomes clear: Having witnessed the incredible, humans bask in the afterglow of the divine.

Immeasurable in its greatness, both higher and deeper than anything else in music, this is the finest work of the most deeply and humanly moving of all composers.

Should you buy the latest remastering of this classic recording?.......2006-04-29

By any measure the Missa Solemnis is almost impossible to faithfully record, given that the engineers must find a way to balance orchestra, solo quartet, and a large chorus, a total of two hundred performers trying to live up to Beethoven's cosmic conception. Recording techniques have advanced a great deal since the early LP era, of course, but it's still fatiguing on the ear to listen to the Missa Solemnis squeezed down to room size.

EMI's remastering of Klemperer's classic 1965 account lowers the ear fatigue a little (the chorus doesn't "crunch" quite as much in loud passages) and clarifies some of the solo instruments and voices a bit, but is otherwise no great shakes. In its new single-disc format the recording is a bargain, but on the used market you can find the two-disc version, which sounds almost as good, for half the price, and it includes an excellent Choral Fantasy that was one of the highlights of the Barenboim-Klemperer concerto cycle.

The Best.......2006-02-27

My favorite recording of my favorite work of my favorite composer.

Among the many strengths of this performance, I would particularly like to mention how dead-on right are the tempi. Klemperer does not lean toward the ponderous here as he does in his symphony recordings.

There is, however, one notable exception: "In gloria dei patris", the fugal close to the Gloria, really is too slow. Taken at a weighty plod, well under the Allegro ma non troppo marked, this section lacks the cumulative energy and "glory" that it should have.

But let's keep things in perspective. This is the exception in a performance that is otherwise exemplary for its tempo choices. And this work, with more tempo variations than I would care to count, so often suffers abuse from the ill-chosen tempi of other conductors.

The sound quality is fine. The performing forces are excellent. Though, for me, Marga Hoffgen is less than the ideal of vocal beauty or expression. But then, Elisabeth Soderstrom is splendid!

I used to find the Kyrie, while at a perfect tempo, too grandiose dynamically. But now I am not so sure. There is a trade-off here: what the movement loses in humility it gains in grandeur.

But enough indulging in personal views. What I really must emphasize is that this is a beautifully conceived performance. Klemperer grasps the larger structures of this great work, while, by comparison, others are lost, mired in the smaller episodes.

This is THE recording.

Unprecedented Majesty and Grandeur.......2005-12-20

This is the third recording of Missa Solemnis that I have heard. The first two (Karajan and Gardiner) were excellent. Nevertheless, I was totally unprepared for the emotion, grandeur and majesty of the Klemperer recording. I own nearly 1,000 classical CDs, and I feel strongly that this is the most powerful and truly moving CD in my collection. I will leave the analysis of the merits of the singing, conducting, orchestral playing and sound engineering to others. I prefer to keep listening to this reverential music without indulging in dissecting its component parts. The overall experience is simply too awe inspiring for me.

Average customer rating:

Religious doesn't mean ponderous; this ain't Bruckner
A Missa Solemnis for listeners in a hurry
Typical period influenced Beethoven
A Radiant Missa Solemnis
Zinman & Tonhalle: A Beethoven Joy For All Seasons

Beethoven: Missa Solemnis
Rainer Trost tenor , David Zinman conductor , Tonhalle Orchestra & Chorus , and Fritz Naf chorusmaster
Manufacturer: Arte Nova Classics
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B000B8QFC8
Release Date: 2005-10-11

Tracks:

Kyrie Eleison
Christe Eleison
Kyrie - Tempo I
Gloria In Excelsis Deo
Gratias - Meno Allegro
Qui Tollis - Larghetto
Quoniam - Allegro Maestoso
Amen - Poco Piu Allegro
Credo In Unum Deum
Et Incarnatus Est - Adagio
Et Resurrexit - Allegro
Et Vitam Venturi
Allegro Con Moto
Grave
Sanctus
Sunt Coeli
Osanna - Presto
Praludium
Benedictus
Agnus Dei
Dona Nobis Pacem

Album Description

"Revelatory…chorus and orchestra are astonishing: both of them very fine bodies and, here, responding to Zinman's idea of the music as though for joy and with the assurance of true virtuosos…exhilarating and quite profoundly moving…" - Gramophone

Beethoven's greatest choral work in a sublime performance under the direction of David Zinman, universally regarded as one of today's finest Beethoven conductors. The Missa Solemnis was first performed in 1824 and Beethoven himself proclaimed it his greatest work to date. The Swiss Chamber Choir (Schweizer Kammerchor) was founded in 1997 under the direction of Fritz Näf, who has made 15 CDs and recordings for radio and television. The four soloists are all well-known as opera and oratorio singers in Europe. Born in 1936, American conductor David Zinman has risen to the pinnacle of his career in the last decade. His discography of some 100 recordings has won five Grammys and two Grands Prix du Disque. Founded in 1868, the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra is Switzerland's oldest symphony orchestra.

Customer Reviews:

Religious doesn't mean ponderous; this ain't Bruckner.......2007-05-31

This performance of the Missa Solemnis is as devout as any other. It just doesn't make the mistake (epidemic in Teutonic music) of equating slowness with seriousness. This is not Parsifal, it's not Bruckner, and it's not dead.

Some slow performances are devout, some are merely sluggish. This one is fast without being flip or glib. God will presumably be just as happy.

P.S. Contrary to a what another reviewer may imply, the soprano here is no more screechy than any other in this music. Beethoven's vocal writing is notoriously high. The contralto at the premiere of the Ninth Symphony broke into tears trying to persuade Beethoven to lower her part. He obviously felt that putting the singer in extremis was an artistic decision. It was the sound he wanted.

A Missa Solemnis for listeners in a hurry.......2007-03-10

I can only echo Mr. VanDeSande's reservations about this hasty, propulsive Missa Solemnis from Zurich. Zinman sold a million CDs of his Beethoven symphony cycle, and money talks. A whole generation of young listeners will come away assuming that period-performance readings are improvements on fuddy[duddy tradition. I doubt there's any stemming this tide, although it must be said that in the major music capitals of the world, the number of major orchestras performing Beethoven this way is minimal.

This CD is essentially a speed-up of John Eliot Gardiner's period reading releaswed by Philips in 1991. Zinman takes 66 min. versus 72 under Gardiner; by comparison, Bernstein's first version on Sony took 77 min. The result of this undue haste is a tremendous loss of expression, reverene, and comfort for the singers, but since Zinman has them barking out their words, they manage not to fall apart. The Zurich orchestra and chorus are fine but not in the first rank, needless to say. In sum, this is a budget Missa Solemnis that observes every current fad and is likely to give Zinman another bestseller.

Typical period influenced Beethoven.......2007-02-05

I now find it ironic that the rendition of Beethoven's ballet, "Creatures of Prometheus", that first turned me on was by Zinman and the Rochester Philharmonic way back when on a Vox discount CD. This was before Zinman became a household name among the period practice crowd.

I got mixed enjoyment from Zinman's spin on the Bahrenreiter edition Beethoven Symphonies and generally enjoyed the playing of the orchestra he used. I would say exactly the same is true here -- there is limited enjoyment for anyone that thinks the "Missa Solemnis" is indeed a solemn mass and should be interpreted as one.

Zinman strictly adheres to the tenets of period performance practice -- his pace is consistently rapid, the phrasing is regularly clipped, the singers reign in vibrato (so do the violins) and he overdoes it doubling the soloist's runs with timpani. Given these parameters, this can be a satisfactory performance if you forgive the screechy soprano. If you can't get past either of those things, you'll wonder why you put out even the paltry $3.38 the lowest-priced Amazon vendor wants for this CD.

I understand how some people can enjoy this approach. Yet I wonder how anyone can listen to this performance then compare it to one of the truly titanic recordings of this music (Levine, Klemperer, Bernstein-Concertgebouw, Wand, many others) and wonder if at least something isn't missing. That "something" would be religious devotion, which, of course, is the whole point.

That being missed, this is essentially an impatient toe-tapping version of Beethoven's great solemn mass, hardly a meaningful interpretation. Since Zinman is in his maturity there isn't much likelihood he'll eschew the dogma of PPP and record this again before he dies. Perhaps hope springs eternal for such a transformation?

A Radiant Missa Solemnis.......2007-01-30

Addendum to the following review: March 10, 2007. It is obvious that many lovers of Beethoven's Missa Solemnis disagree with the review below. On reading the criticisms of Zinman by my fellow reviewers, I have decided to let the review stand. The critics have a point. Zinman's reading of the work is fast, fluid, and graceful. Some equate this with a lack of reverence. But I think it more a matter of hearing a transcendental work in a new way. Zinman's is not the only way to perform the Missa but it offers its own light on a limitless score. There is something to be learned from and savored in it even though it may not be everyone's Missa. Classics Today rated this performance highly, noting that it was particularly good for new listeners who might otherwise have inordinate trouble with this famously difficult music. I wrote my review for people coming anew to this difficult work and for people whose ears were open to new approaches. It is not the only way of hearing Beethoven. Robin Friedman

Beethoven completed his Missa Solemnis in 1823, following four years of effort. With the possible exception of "Fidelio", no other work cost Beethoven such pain. With some reason, Beethoven regarded the Missa Solemnis as his greatest composition. With its size, complexity, and varied use of musical forms, the Missa Solemnis may be Beethoven's most difficult work to approach. But the meaning of the work is clear: the Missa Solemnis constitutes Beethoven's sustained effort to come to terms with God and with his own life. Through its frequently tortured moments, the Missa Solemnis ends with a deeply moving prayer for inner and outer peace.

This Missa Solemnis by David Zinman conducting the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich is a joy in the exuberance it brings to the work. Zinman served as Conductor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra from 1985 -- 1998 and as Chief Conductor of the Tonhalle Orchestra since 1995. In 1999 Zinman and the Tonhalle Orchestra recorded a widely-acclaimed cycle of the Beethoven symphonies. This recording of the Missa Solemnis dates from 2001, has only recently been rereleased on Arte Nova, and meets the same high standard. The CD is available at a budget price.

Joy, transparency, and lightness characterize Zinman's reading of the Missa Solemnis. Zinman's interpretation compliments that of many other recordings which emphasize the solemn and severe aspects of the music. A key to Zinman's approach lies in tempo. His performance of the Missa runs just under 66 minutes. In contrast, an excellent budget performance on Naxos by the late Kenneth Schermerhorn's runs over 77 minutes while Otto Klemperer's magisterial reading of the Missa Solemnis is close to 80 minutes in length. Zinman's pacing of the work gives it a joyful, moving flow, even in the complex fugal sections. It reminded me that religious search is serious but not necessarily ponderous. Zinman's reading is filled with hope. In addition, there is a wonderful unity of effort in this CD among the orchestra, chorus, and soloists. They tend to blend beautifully together as the four solo voices interlace with the chorus and with each other.

Beethoven composed the Missa Solemnis in five large blocked sections, Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei. Each of the sections is a unity but yet each also consists of widely different types of music. Beethoven used a great deal of archaic material in the Missa Solemnis, including chant and modal scales interspersed with straighforward tonal sections of more immediate appeal. On this CD, the Missa Solemnis is, unusually, divided into 21 tracks, which allows the listener to focus upon the many changes within each of the five sections of the work.

Some of the best moments of Zinman's reading include the passionate opening to the "Gloria" section, the lovely interplay between vocalist and flute in the "Et incarnatus est" passage of the "Credo", the violin obligato in the Benedictus section of "Sanctus" and the concluding section of "Agnus Dei" which in Zinman's reading becomes a flowing and graceful, almost dance-like prayer for deep serenity.

Zinman offers a lyrical and graceful interpretation of what, by any account, is a difficult, demanding masterwork to perform and to hear. Any lover of Beethoven's Missa Solemnis will have his or her feeling for the work enhanced by Zinman's reading.

Robin Friedman

Zinman & Tonhalle: A Beethoven Joy For All Seasons.......2005-11-30

The large - and in all senses of the word, imposing - great mass by Beethoven has not become associated with a particular season, religious or secular. Yet. Handel's Messiah, Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors, Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker, Britten's Ceremony of Carols - these and other works are firmly anchored in our December senses. Even beyond Christmas as such, many cultures have some sort of prominent winter festival.

One begins to reflect on festivals the moment the first notes of this performance of the Beethoven Great Mass break forth from the speakers. Festivals and music-making are inseparable all around the planet.

Now Zinman and Tonhalle have already long since presented their Beethoven credentials on red book standard CD at the world's doorsteps, having offered us the astounding cycle of the nine symphony recordings (also released on Arte Nova, inexpensively). That series of recordings justly deserved winning the German record critics' prize for 1999.

But even very fine players who can do the symphonies can still fall short in this Everest of the composed masses available to us in the west. So how do these wonderful folks do in the Missa Solemnis?

All their familiar Beethoven gifts are in evidence.

Though not playing on original instruments as such; their phrasing, rhythms, and tempos owe much to the vigorous performance practices that had arisen among original instrument or period instrument musicians, say, by about the third or fourth generation of ongoing research & recreation. To this sort of player, even very great and long-revered music is not the least bit sleepy. Think Vivaldi's Four Seasons by the likes of - Il Giardino Armonico, or Fabio Biondi & Europa galante, or Rinaldo Alessandrini & Concerto Itialiano. That is, this is not your great-great grandmother's 19th century performance practice.

None of this vigor means much, however, unless it serves musical and expressive ends.

Happily, Zinman and company have very pointed musical ends in mind as they play this Beethoven Great Mass.

If you have felt past and more traditional performances of this work have fallen into lumbering along, despite their often stellar casts; this may be just the pick me up that you have been looking for in this work. There is a lightness, a deft touch - a spirit of bel canto song, if you will - that informs the faster passages in the Zinman and company approach. Theirs is not blizzard speed for its own sake; nor slowing for the sake of formed seriousness lacking depth of intention. Fast or slow or in between, the point is the shape of the music Zinman and company have let find them and hold them fast.

Odd as it may seem given the sheer outsized proportions of the Great Mass as the composer consciously intended it, the fugues in this performance lean more towards dance than towards academic schools of polyphony or mathematics. Did you realize fugues were a happy fizzy champagne? Just listen to Zinman and company do the fugues here.

The high and musical unity of purpose holds for the orchestra, the chorus, and the four soloists under Zinman's direction.

Whether as an effect of inspired leadership or of diligently led preparation, every singer or player in this performance is working together, a Gloria dei, and probably a Gloria Beethoven as well. As you listen, you may find that the deeper consistency on display to the ear does not preclude many thought provoking and happy touches, both immediately in passing in a particularly inflected phrase, and in the larger paragraphs and pages, too.

Just as the orchestra needs to be one and many at the same time, so the four soloists have their separate and common tasks to challenge them in this music. Rainer Trost rings out from his very first entry in the Kyrie; and all the others meet him as equal artists throughout. The ladies are both very fine, with Luba Organasova and Anna Larson in exquisite voice, singly and together. The bass is Franz-Joseph Selig, and as the bottom of the quartet's sung music he is a solid foundation, musical - way more than the gruff bear out of winter hibernation that growls away at the bottom of the staves. If the ladies blend well, so do the gentlemen singers. And the quartet becomes that mystical one in four angels that floats on the heights of this Everest of a composed mass. Somehow all this reminds me of Mahler's anchorites chorus in the second half of his eighth symphony setting of the finale of Goethe's Faust.

There is hardly any real weakness here, then, on anybody's part. The Tonhalle band relishes Beethoven, just as successfully - and with equal good humor - as in their symphony cycle. Zinman presides, the first among equals. And the chorus is all vocal zest and tang, as if Beethoven's quasi-instrumental vocal writing were more like a conversation among friends having a stroll on a fine day with no worries in sight. Don't fall into the trap of believing that the Beethoven Great Mass is really easy music, just because these performers make it sound so superbly effortless. There is hard work behind the scenes here, as well as the genius and joy that resound in the listener's ears.

Except for the listener who might fell weak in the knees to own such gold, so cheaply as Arte Nova allows. Don't mistake this budget recording for any other, budget or mid-price or full. It is its own reason for being, a Gloria Beethoven.

Now stop reading and click yes on your little shopping cart icon. You will certainly not at all ever be sorry that you got this CD, and you will most likely end up letting it share the shelf with other great recordings of the past. This is easily the equal - maybe the better in a certain sort of sense - of the closest neighbor, the John Eliot Gardiner recording at full price.

Kudos and stars all round. Now buy this CD, if you please.

Average customer rating:

It is absolutely breath-takingly beautiful.
Robert Shaw Choruses At Their Best!
Glorious

Gloria: Music of Praise & Inspiration

Manufacturer: Telarc
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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The #1 Choral Album

ASIN: B00000DFWF
Release Date: 1998-10-27

Tracks:

Gloria In Excelsis
Sanctus
Glory To God
Awake The Harp
Gloria
Gloria
Sanctus
Heavenly Light
Aeterna Fac
Slava V Vyshnikh Bogu
Sanctus
Gloria
Alleluia
Sanctus
Magnificat

Amazon.com

This compilation features excerpts from some of the greatest sacred works in the literature--including Bach's Mass in B Minor, Handel's Messiah, Beethoven's Missa solemnis, and Verdi's Requiem--all led by Robert Shaw. The selections, from recordings made between 1983 and 1997 by Shaw and various ensembles including the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, are presented more or less in order of their composition, from Vivaldi's Gloria to Arvo Pärt's Magnificat. Especially thrilling is the complete "Gloria" from the Missa solemnis, 17 minutes of sheer grandeur, and the Sanctus movements from the Requiems of Verdi and Maurice Duruflé. --Ted Libbey

Customer Reviews:

It is absolutely breath-takingly beautiful........2007-05-15

I enjoyed this CD very much. It is just beautiful music.

Robert Shaw Choruses At Their Best!.......2004-09-20

If Sir Robert were still alive, & breathing, I believe he would be caught-up making music with this awesome, majestic, mystical GLORIA, Sanctus, Hallelujah Masterworks! I lucked-up on this old collection in the few classical CD'S in Best Buy!

At first hearing they sent me back into the 1970's when most of Church Musicians majored in Vivaldi's Gloria, the Sanctus of Bach's B-Minor Mass, the Long, georgeous GLORIA, Missa Solemnis, Beethoven, and incomparable Alleluia by Randall Thompson.

During a visit of Hurricane IVAN'S rushing winds and torrents of rain, I stayed on back roads of Decatur and East Atlanta! Also keeping alert & relaxed listening to Robert Shaw re-inventing his Choral Mystique! In slowly moving traffic of 2++ hours to Fayetteville, I kept alert singing along at 30 mph, wrapped in his quiet heavenly beauty of Koplov's "Heavenly Light!"

That mysteriously spiritual power of glorious choruses provided the same resourceful sounds of his eternal music-making from rehearsals in the Atlanta Symphony Chorus, Westminster Choir College and Avery Fischer Hall concerts in NYC! (1975-1985)

Only the early 33 1/3 recordings of the Robert Shaw Chorale in his Spirituals and Irish Songs, later Handel's Messiah and Bach B-Minor Mass were forerunners to his awesome listing of repeated Grammy winners, now printed in digital stereo color and sound! Hooray for Sir Robert and his rich chorale legacy... Let's keep them singing for Eternity! Retired Chaplain Fred W Hood

Glorious.......2000-06-30

If I had to choose one conductor to compile exerpts from the greatest masses and works in choral literature and history, I would only bestow that duty to Robert Shaw and his choruses. Once again he displays his uncanny ability to not only choose beautiful music but also perform it in a spellbinding manner. Even with the pieces the average listener has heard or performed, such as Vivaldi's Gloria or portions of Handel's Messiah, one cannot help but become enthralled with the recordings of Shaw's interpretations of those works. Although Shaw never followed through on his early-life ambition to be a minister, I still believe he does so and perhaps to a greater extent through his music ministry. One cannot help but feel closer to understanding what heaven is about after having finished listening to this CD. This is well worth buying for it will live up to the english interpretation of its Latin title: Glorious.

Beethoven: Missa Solemnis /Mannion * Remmert * Taylor * Hauptmann * La Chapelle Royale * Orchestre des Champs Elysees * Herreweghe

Average customer rating:

Wonderful!
Wonderful!
understanding of Beethoven
Wonderful, deeply felt live recording.
A most beautiful performance

Beethoven: Missa Solemnis /Mannion * Remmert * Taylor * Hauptmann * La Chapelle Royale * Orchestre des Champs Elysees * Herreweghe
Choeur de la Chapelle Royale et Collegium Vocale
Manufacturer: Harmonia Mundi Fr.
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Beethoven - Missa Solemnis / Margiono * Robbin * Kendall * Miles * EBS * Gardiner

ASIN: B0000007AF
Release Date: 1995-10-17

Tracks:

Missa Solemnis, D Major: Kyrie - Beethoven
Missa Solemnis, D Major: Gloria - Beethoven
Missa Solemnis, D Major: Credo - Beethoven
Missa Solemnis, D Major: Sanctus - Beethoven
Missa Solemnis, D Major: Benedictus - Beethoven
Missa Solemnis, D Major: Agnus Dei - Beethoven

Tracks:

Messe en ut mineur, K.427: Qui tollis
Elias, Oratorio, Op. 70: Hymne 'Hor mein Bitten, Herr'
Elias, Oratorio, Op. 70: Overture
Elias, Oratorio, Op. 70: Duo avec choeur
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Ave Maria
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Nuits D'Ete, Op. 7: Le Spectre de la Rose
Das Lied von der Erde: Von Der Schonheit
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Pierrot Lunaire, Op. 21: Heimfahrt
Pierrot Lunaire, Op. 21: O alter Duft
Berliner Requiem: Ballade vom ertrunkenen Madchen
Berliner Requiem: Marterl

Customer Reviews:

Wonderful!.......2004-06-12

I have always enjoyed listening to masses and requiems. This is one of the best masses I have ever heard. The chorus and orchestra are well balanced and both are filled with an overwhelming amount of emotion. The soloists are perfect. I love Rosa Mannion's voice, her high notes are amazing, she is by far one of the best sopranos I have heard. The Credo, usually a boring section of the mass, is without a doubt the most uplifting. The Sanctus is amazing! I love the way the soloists fade to nothing only to be overcome by the powerfull "pleni sunt coeli". I also love the Benedictus. The violin solo is absolutly beautifull! The Benedictus is by far the best part of the eniter mass. Beethoven definetly accomplised his goal!

Wonderful!.......2004-06-12

I first heard the Missa Solemnis while watching a concert on tv. I found many problems with it, the orchestra and chorus was not well balanced and the alto soloist sounded like a man. However, when i found this recording I was thrilled! I have heard a few others and this is the absolute best! The soloists are amazing, I especially love Rosa Mannion's beautiful voice. He high notes really complete the sound. The chorus and orchestra are well balanced and one never overpowers the other. I am also very fond of the Benedictus. The violin solo is very emotional and and serves as an excellent intro for the soloists. The Agnus Dei ends the entire maserpiece perfectly, leaving you with an overwhelming feeling of faith.

understanding of Beethoven.......2001-11-22

Although Gardiner's period performance is crystal-sharp, Herreweghe is able to blend the simplicity of period instruments with a deeper understanding of Beethoven's spirituality which is, on the whole, more convincing. At the same time, he is likewise able to bring out the full richness of Beethoven's counterpoint, particularly in the Kyrie and the Credo. His closing fugue ("Et vitam venturi saeculi") is among the best I've heard (and one of the fastest!).

Wonderful, deeply felt live recording........1999-05-26

Reflects an understanding of Beethoven at his most spiritual. Reverent and highly musical.

A most beautiful performance.......1999-05-01

Beethoven' s greatest work (according to the composer himself), has had many good recordings. But this new one from the great Belgian conductor Philippe Herreweghe, most deffinitely demands to be heard. The most striking thing about this recording, is how beautiful it sounds. Those who think period instruments make an ugly sound should hear this recording to eat their words. A beauty.

Average customer rating:

The Very Best of Beethoven

Manufacturer: Naxos
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B000B6N64A
Release Date: 2005-10-18

Tracks:

Allegro Con Brio
Egmont Overture
Adagio Sostenuto
Allegro Molto
Rondo
Abscheulicher!
Adagio Cantabile
Allegro Ma Non Troppo
Finale
Rondo

Tracks:

Scherzo
Bagatelle In A Minor 'Fur Elise'
Sanctus-Benedictus
Adagio Molto Espressivo
Rondo
Andante Favori
Allegretto
Scherzo
Adagio Cantabile & Allegro Vivace
Ode To Joy

Average customer rating:

A thrilling account from Bernstein at his loftiest
Bernstein + Beethoven = An Epic Performance
A classic account of titanic choral music
Traditional, but outstanding

Beethoven: Missa Solemnis

Manufacturer: Polygram Int'l
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B000050GK3
Release Date: 2000-11-01

Tracks:

Kyrie Eleison
Christe Eleison
Kyrie Eleison
Allegro Vivace- Gloria In Excelsis Deo
Qui Tollis Peccata Mundi, Miserere Nobis
Quoniam Tu Solus Sanctus
In Gloria Dei Patris, Amen
Amen, Amen, In Gloria Dei Patris
Allegro Ma Non Troppo- Credo In Unum Deum
Et Incarnatus Est
Et Ascendit In Coelum
Et Vitam Venturi Saeculi
Amen, Et Vitam Venturi Saeculi Amen
Adagio- Sactus, Sanctus, Sanctus Dominus, Deus Sabaoth
Pleni Sunt Coeli Et Terra
Praeludium
Benedictus, Qui Venit In Nomine Domini
Adagio- Agnus Dei, Qui Tollis Peccata Mundi
Dona Nobis Pacem
Agnus Dei, Qui Tollis Peccata Mundi
Presto

Customer Reviews:

A thrilling account from Bernstein at his loftiest.......2007-07-22

Until recently I had avoided listening to this widely dmired Missa Solemnis that Bernstein recorded in concert from Amsterdam. His first version on Sony was marred by bad sound and some sloppy vocal work, and I was afraid that LB, never one to bother much with choral discipline, would be wayward under live conditions. These assumptions were mistaken, and now I have the pleasure of hearing one of the great accounts of Missa Solemnis on disc, worthy to stand with Klemperer, Toscaninii, and Karajan.

If anything, Bernstein at 60 proves more thrilling than his earlier self, and the orchestra and chorus far surpass his NY forces. The acoutic is very resonant, and the soloists, all singing within an inch of their lives, are caught close up. This work is an engineering nightmare, and yet DG's sonics are as good as one might wish -- they certainly surpass anything Karajan achieved in four tires on both DG and EMI.

As for the interpreatation, although it times out fairly slow at 81 min., bernstein never mistakes ponderousness for profundity. Every bar is alive and vital, and he makes the brilliant decision to aproach the Mass as a drama of the soul, varying the tone from hused mystery and aew to apocalyptic tirumph. bernstein could be self-indulgent in later years, but I agree with Mr. VanDeSande that he is self-effacing here. Of his four soloists, none ae favorites of mine, but they perform heroically and their fluffs in intnation, like those of the chorus, are easily forgiven in the heat of the moment.

In sum, this glorious reading has been overlooked in the general adulation for Klemperer, but in many ways it is an equal classic and perhaps more inspired from moment to moment.

Bernstein + Beethoven = An Epic Performance.......2007-02-06

In the vast array of the choral music repertoire, few works have ever been as demanding on the artists that perform them as Beethoven's Missa Solemnis has proven to be. Finished in 1823, at roughly the same time he was completing his Ninth Symphony, the Missa Solemnis, like its ultra-popular companion, is a huge and daunting work, made even more so by the fact that Beethoven was completely deaf by that time. And like its companion, this masterpiece of the choral repertoire was not really fully understood until much later on.

There have been dozens upon dozens of recordings of the Missa Solemnis over the decades, but one which stands out in particular is this one, made before a live audience in 1979, with Leonard Bernstein on the podium. With a fine quartet of vocal soloists, the Hilversum Radio Choir, and the world-reknowned Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, Bernstein brings out the absolute brilliance and scope of this mighty masterpiece in ways that even old-school German kapellemesiters rarely ever did. The portentous and stirring "Kyrie" is given one of the most touching readings on record; and the "Gloria" is given one of its most violent renderings, particularly right at the opening. Bernstein's tempos here are, not surprisingly, slower than they were when he recorded this piece in 1960 with his New York Philharmonic, which went 77 minutes; this one runs 81 minutes, which is somehow squeezed onto just one CD by the Deutsche Grammophon engineers. And yet, it doesn't feel slow, because Bernstein's understanding of and enthusiasm for the piece are there in each note, with that great Concertgebouw Orchestra, chorus, and soloists giving every ounce of themselves.

Anyone wanting to find out just how great the Beethoven Missa Solemnis is need only look for this recording. It is a performance of certifiably epic proportions.

A classic account of titanic choral music.......2006-08-30

Recorded during a 1978 concert in Amsterdam and released worldwide a year later, Bernstein's last recording of Beethoven's Missa Solemnis is emblematic of the conductor's final period when he re-recorded core repertoire incluidng Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms and Mahler with European forces in the final decade or so of his life.

This was the first really exceptional recording of the score I owned. When it was new, I constantly compared it to the then two LP recording led by Gunther Wand on Nonesuch (re-released a few years back on Testament). Next, I recorded a cassette of it from a Sunday morning broadcast by my local PBS station. Later, I acquired it on CD and listened to it against the score I used when I sang in a performance the first time.

Originally released on two full priced LPs late in the analog period, this performance was issued as two CDs early in the digital era. Now it is available on a single CD of 81 minutes' duration in a high gloss, high depth, good sounding digital recording. Never has the music come forward with as much depth and definition as here.

Bernstein's address is decidedly devotional which accounts, in part, for the relatively lengthy duration. Most middle ground recordings take 75-77 minutes while slow pokes like Levine can stretch it out to 84. I generally prefer the faster versions but have always been entranced by Lenny's recording.

He is substnatially aided by glorious playing from the Concergebouw Orchestra and wonderful choral singing by the Hilversum choir, whose tenor section is outstanding. Given that any choir is judged by its tenor section, this tells you from the opening kyrie that this will be a special recording of a very festive occasion.

Three of the four soloists -- soprano Edda Moser, tenor Rene Kollo and bass Kurt Moll -- deliver what I would characeterize as helden accounts of their parts. They sing as if they are participating in a Wagner opera or perhaps in Beethoven's own Fidelio, which was a specialty of Bernstein's. The alto, Hanna Schwarz, sings more roundly and eloquently throughout, neither as heroic as her peers nor as greatly projected. While this mixture may seem odd, the singers make a thrilling quartet and aid Lenny's overall interpretation.

From a conductorial standpoint, two parts, more than any others, expose his or her relative genius or shortcomings: the Benedictus section of the Sanctus, where the conductor must keep the vocal and violin soloists, orchestra and choir in sync at about 65 and andante; and the "mental illness" section that opens the final Presto transition of the Agnus Dei, which Beethoven uses as a musical bridge from the eccelsiastical text to the sublime finale.

It has always been clear that Bernstein demonstrates a mature and complete understanding of the composer's wishes in these sections, just as he demonstrated his understanding of Fidelio and the Ninth Symphony on his famous video, "Celebration in Vienna" some years earlier. While Lenny was among the most wilfull conductors of his (or any other) time, he withheld virtually all of his personal affectations in this concert rendering, allowing the composer's voice to speak universally.

This is very unBernstein, even late in his career when his recordings became significantly less passionate and included tempi judgments that slowed more each succeeding year. Compare this performance to his late Beethoven symphony set with the Vienna Philharmonic, or his hyperpersonal recordings of the Schumann symphonies with the same orchestra, to show the reserve Bernstein exhibited when making this historic performance.

It is this sacrifice, if you will, that transforms this from peripatetic to perfection that strides atop the Mt. Olympus of recordings. The digital recording not only delivers the sound faithfully and more realistically than ever before, the production team gives us 21 tracks on the recording, Arnold Werner-Jensen's note speak eloquently of the music, and the choral text is detailed in five languages.

Short of an SACD recording, I can hardly imagine a recording of this score being any better. Of the dozen of so copies I have owned, the half-dozen live performances I have witnessed, and the two productions in which I have been a member of the chorus, this is clearly the most memorable, both musically and in religious context, of any of them. Now, captured on this ADD recording, it can remain that way for years to come.

Traditional, but outstanding.......2006-07-24

Missa solemnis is a truly extraordinary work. One of the most difficult to perform, both at technical and structural level, because of the merciless demands LvB put on singers and instrumetalists, and because the conductor must be aware of overall structure and spiritual impact the work has. This last aspect is often overlooked, at least to my taste.
Great performances? I have listened several months ago to Klemperer famous recoring. In the net there are some glowing reviews but others are not so well impressed. kemperer has a truly magnificent, monumental, and at the same time "clear" sound, both in chorus and orchestra, but, alas, I remember does not have "elasticity", flexibility, and can be ponderous at times. Not with Bernstein.
Gardiner? I dont know well. They say he has a great Monteverdi Choir, superb soloists and lively tempi. Gramophone says is the best, the choice recording. Maybe.
Karajan 66? Great quartet, great orchestra, poor chorus, and frankly, very slow tempi at times. Indeed, a performance longer than 81 min is too slow.
Levine? A great oportunity could have been, but was lost, because of the conductor. Truly great soloists, in name but also in performance (perhaps better than here), clean choirs (important in this work), extraordinary wiener philarmoniker, but the tempi management show he is not fully aware of how this work must be performed. Sometimes too fast, sometimes too slow.
And Bernstein, at last. He had recorded in the 60's with NTPO. I dont know it. Later he recorded it in c.1979 with the Concertgebouw forces and choir of dutch radio. It was released in a 2 CD format and later,as technology improved, here, in a 81 min single CD.It is a live recording recorded perhaps in Concertgebouw.
The approach is traditional. Don't expect anything resembling "period". The soloists in general are good individually and as a team. the best team? Perhaps not, but all acceptable. In a live performance it is difficult to stay perfect all time. Karajan and Levine have perhaps better quartets. Soprano Edda Moser has a rich voice. When she wants has a beautifull, creamy voice with not too much vibrato, but in other moments she sounds too "presurised", as I have read in a review. Is it wrong? Perhaps not so much in a traditional performance, and justified in the context of the many "hot" points the work has. the singer is clearly flexible. Could have been better? Oh, Yes!!! (Gundula Janowitz, under Karajan 66). But acceptable here.
Alto Schwatz is a delight, with a vibrato more focused, more under control. The same can be said about tenor rene Kollo, pure delight is listening to his part. More stylish than Domingo, I think.
Bass Moll is also very good, his voice is younger, fresher than under Levine, but there the beginning of the agnus dei is sung with greater emphasis.
As I have said, as a group are quite good.
The choir is very good in general. Is very responsive to the demands established by Beethoven and by Bernstein. Its sound is not so individual, so "particular", as is Monteverdi choir, the swedish choirs under levine or the philarmonia choir under Klemperer. The choir here has a little vibrato in upper voices which can be disturbing in places like the Kyrie. is it all wrong? It depends on the listener. If you are accustomed to pure singing, perhaps yes; if not, you will find choral singing is allways responsive to the music and to the flexible demands Bernstein put on them. In the Kyrie, perhaps, the "woobly" sound may reflect human fragility (Kyrie is a humble plea for forgiveness).
Orchestra is very good in general. Balances in general are good, not so bad but not so clear as other groups with a more special sound, like Gardiner period band, the Wiener Ph, with its special sound, and Klemperer Philarmonia, which is also more interested in orchestral colours than average orchestras. What I mean is that I dont find a particular "sound" here. Nothing special, but nothing wrong, as in all performers here.
What is not so average is Bernstein. here Lenny shows he has absorbed the piece and this is made clear after you end listening. He is quite flexible in a work of extremes. The Kyrie, perhaps, is the weakest part, sounds too "thin", slow (although 10 min is not so slow, compared to 12 min Levine or Karajan). Surely is not so imposing as Klemperer and can be a calculated effect. The Gloria begins with truly violence, clarity is not the main focus as the insistent flow of the music, which takes your soul as a twister. Pure fire here. Then in the qui tollis section there is a quite, welcome contrast (Levine does not understand this). The Quoniam begins with a magnificent timpani crescendo which is so easily overlooked in other recordings, after that the quoniam is quite rightly taken as a lively section. The fugue of gloria is magnificent, quite exciting. The last Amen, sung by choir, has an impact beyond words. The credo begins perhaps with not so emphasis but later is more engaging. the Et incarnatus is sung with great tranquility and the "passus" passage is appropiately very melancholic. The best part is the last section, bernstein makes his singers to almost become dement believers. The 2 fugues are amazing and the last, quiet notes sung by soloists interrupted by 2 "Amen, amen", makes you cry with tears. There is so much beauty here ...
Sanctus begins quite slowly, followed by the pleni sunt and osanna, sung both by choir (LvB said the soloists should, but I think makes sense by choir). The preludium is lugubrious, under Lenny seems like the Mahler adagietto but still effective. The Benedictus has in Krebers a great solist, which floates aboove the performers with wonderfull serenity. Tempi is quite right. the last osanna fugue sounds monumental, followed by a blissfull violin solo.
Agnus dei begins right, but at the solo part may be more intense. it's that lenny makes this section grow in passion until the dona nobis, which comes as a fresh relief. After a glorious performace behind, this section is the crowning of a better than average interpretation of the mass. Lenny uses a flexible approah and after the last, magnificent chord it may make you convert into a Lenny fan, as he did to me.
Definitely nothing resembling an ordinary performance. Only a experienced great artist like Lenny can put together this vast work.

Beethoven - Missa Solemnis · Mozart - Coronation Mass / Karajan

Average customer rating:

spiritually edifying
Top-notch
Karajan's Missa Solemnis times five
An Absolute Mess!
The Mount Everest of Missas Solemnis

Beethoven - Missa Solemnis · Mozart - Coronation Mass / Karajan
Agnes Baltsa , Gundula Janowitz , Werner Krenn , Rudolf Scholz , and Anna Tomowa-Sintow
Manufacturer: Deutsche Grammophon
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Janowitz, Gundula | Divas | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Ludwig, Christa | Divas | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

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Haydn: The Creation / Herbert von Karajan
Bach: Matthäus-Passion
Brahms: Ein deutsches Requiem Op.45
Dvorák: Symphonie No. 9; Smetana: Moldau
Beethoven - Missa Solemnis / Margiono * Robbin * Kendall * Miles * EBS * Gardiner

ASIN: B000001GA2
Release Date: 1990-10-25

Tracks:

Missa solemnis In D Major Op. 123: I. Kyrie - Assai sostenuto (Mit Andacht): Kyrie eleison
Missa solemnis In D Major Op. 123: I. Kyrie - Assai sostenuto (Mit Andacht): Christe eleison
Missa solemnis In D Major Op. 123: I. Kyrie - Assai sostenuto (Mit Andacht): Kyrie eleison
Missa solemnis In D Major Op. 123: II. Gloria - Allegro vivace: Gloria in excelsis Deo
Missa solemnis In D Major Op. 123: II. Gloria - Allegro vivace: Qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis
Missa solemnis In D Major Op. 123: II. Gloria - Allegro vivace: Quoniam tu solus Sanctus
Missa solemnis In D Major Op. 123: II. Gloria - Allegro vivace: In gloria Dei Patris. Amen
Missa solemnis In D Major Op. 123: II. Gloria - Allegro vivace: Amen, Amen, in gloria Dei Patris. Quoniam - tu solus Sanctus
Missa solemnis In D Major Op. 123: III. Credo - Allegro ma non troppo: Credo in unum Deum
Missa solemnis In D Major Op. 123: III. Credo - Allegro ma non troppo: Et incarnatus est
Missa solemnis In D Major Op. 123: III. Credo - Allegro ma non troppo: Et ascendit in coelum
Missa solemnis In D Major Op. 123: III. Credo - Allegro ma non troppo: Et vitam venturi saeculi
Missa solemnis In D Major Op. 123: III. Credo - Allegro ma non troppo: Amen, et vitam venturi saeculi. Amen

Tracks:

Missa solemnis In D - Major Op. 123: IV. Sanctus - Adagio (Mit Andacht): Sanctus - Sanctus, Sanctus, Dominus, Deus Sabaoth - Berlin PO; Karajan, H.v.
Missa solemnis In D - Major Op. 123: IV. Sanctus - Adagio (Mit Andacht): Pleni sunt coeli et terra
Missa solemnis In D - Major Op. 123: IV. Sanctus - Adagio (Mit Andacht): Praeludium
Missa solemnis In D - Major Op. 123: IV. Sanctus - Adagio (Mit Andacht): Benedictus, qui venit in nomine Domini
Missa solemnis In D - Major Op. 123: V. Agnus Dei: Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi
Missa solemnis In D - Major Op. 123: V. Agnus Dei - Adagio: Dona nobis pacem
Missa solemnis In D - Major Op. 123: V. Agnus Dei - Adagio: Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi
Missa solemnis In D - Major Op. 123: V. Agnus Dei - Adagio: Presto
Coronation Mass In C Major DV 317: Kyrie - Andante maestoso - Piu andante
Coronation Mass In C Major DV 317: Gloria - Allegretto con spirito
Coronation Mass In C Major DV 317: Credo - Allegro molto - Adagio - Tempo I
Coronation Mass In C Major DV 317: Sanctus - Andante maestoso - Allegro assai
Coronation Mass In C Major DV 317: Benedictus - Allegretto - Allegro assai
Coronation Mass In C Major DV 317: Agnus Dei: Agnus Dei. Andante sostenuto
Coronation Mass In C Major DV 317: Agnus Dei: Dona nobis pacem. Allegro con spirito

Customer Reviews:

spiritually edifying.......2006-11-06

a beautiful uplifting piece of liturgical music from the great beethoven

buy it

Top-notch.......2005-11-12

A wonderful recording. This twosome is now available as a bargain two-fer, and the new transfer helps these older recordings immensely. I have always loved Karajan's interpretations of Beethoven's later works (as another reviewer said). His 9th's, the three I have heard (1962, 1977, 1984) are all excellent, but the 1962 version is the best of that bunch. Similarly with the Missa Solemnis, between this release and his later digital (1985) effort for DG, this (1966) version features an all-star quartet as well as the BPO at its performing peak. I cannot recommend these recordings strongly enough. And the "Coronation" Mass is fabulous too! Listen to his rendition of the 'Credo', simply wonderful!

This is my choice for this recording. The only real competition I see for the Missa Solemnis is the Solti/Berlin performance from 1992, which features better sound and faster pacing, but a similar overall "Beethovenian" feel.

Karajan's Missa Solemnis times five.......2005-10-09

Karajan made a specialty of this great and difficult work, which he recorded no less than five times. I don't believe in duplicating reviews here at Amazon, but I am posting this one under each performance--they range from a live radio broadcast in 1959 from the Salzburg Festival to a digital recording from 1985 in Berlin. In general the sound improves as time goes on, and except for the last recording, the soloists are uniformaly world class.

Since Karajan's readings rank among the best ever made, I'd like to give a brief rundown of each:

1959 Salzburg (EMI): In many ways this is the dream recording. The orchestra is the Vienna Phil, the chorus the Vienna Singverein, Karajan's favorite--they appear in all his recordings. The solo quartet captures Leontyne Price in her prime--her glorious soprano is incomparable in this part. Christa Ludwig, Nicolai Gedda, and Nicola Zaccaria join Price in a passionate, involved performance that brings more excitement and commitment than any other. The big downside is the tubby mono sound--you are aware of listening to a gigantic work through your home radio. If you can adjust your ears and listen through the sound, as it were, this was obviously a great event.

1960 Philharmonia (Testament): This EMI commercial recording came out originally in mono, only later in muffled stereo. It's been cleaned up by Testament for reissue, but the chorus is still fairly murky and distant. Otherwise, this is a deeply satisfying performance, the second best of the five in my opinion. The solo quartet is marked by actually singing, not shouting, and the four voices blend beautifully, which only makes sense, because Schwarzkopf, Ludwig, and Gedda had sung together for years on EMI. They would go on to make a superlative Verdi Requiem under Giulini. The bass again is Nicola Zaccaria, another old hand at EMI but not quite up to the other three. Karajan's conducting lacks the fiery intensity of the live Salzburg performance from the year before. Eerything is relative, though. This is still a strong entry, commanding in every way.

1966 Berlin (DG): From here to the end all recordings are with the Berlin Phil. This one came out nose to nose with the famed Klemperer set from London (EMI), and on the whole Klemperer is superior, thanks to somewhat clearer sound and an unsurpassed chorus trained by Wilhelm Pitz. Karajan's quartet is once again stellar: Gundula Janowitz, Christa Ludwig, Fritz Wunderlich, and Walter Berry. Wunderlich was the greatest lyric tenor in Germany and sounds wonderful. I don't care for Janowitz's piping, hooty soprano, which sounds more like a woodwind instrument than a fully expressive voice, but I concede that I am in the minority. The sonics are a bit glaring, and they get ocngested in the massed passages with chorus and orchestra. DG may have improved the sound in the 1996 reissue on a bargain two-fer; I haven't heard it, although there's no doubt this recording is at times uncomfortably shrill.

1975 Berlin (EMI): Karajan has proceeded with at least one new Missa Solemnis per decade. This recording features another stellar quartet, with Janowitz held over from the DG set and sounding excactly the same. She is joined by Peter Schreier, Agnes Baltsa, and Jose Van Dam. All except Schreier were Karajan favorites at the time. They sing very well, even though one hears a noticeable drop from the earlier quartets. The recorded sound here is just as congested in tuttis as on the DG set. In general the performance shows no advance on earlier readings and in my opinion is the most negligible of the five.

1985 Berlin (DG) : For the first time one notices a leap forward in sound quality, thanks to digital multi-miking. From the outset there's more orchestral detail, cleaner separation of voices, and good highlighting of the vocal quartet. The engineers weren't stuck with a single microphone placement, which never could capture chorus, orchestra, and soloists satisfactorily. Unfortunately, when the big tuttis come in the Gloria, the chorus and orchestra become just as congested as before. This is due to Karajan's insistence on using a very large chorus; it always muddies when the music gets very loud. Over the years Karajan didn't drastically change his approach to the Missa Solemnis, and since this 1985 recording has the best sound, one wishes it could be recommended as the best document. It is badly let down, however, by the quartet, consisting of two unknown women--Lella Cuberli and Trudeliese Schmidt--who aren't exactly great discoveries, along with the light-voiced tenor Vinson Cole and a dry, aging Jose Van Dam.

With enough time and space, one could detail hundreds of differences between these performances. In 1985, for example, the Gloria shoots out at rocket speed compared to the other four performances. But this way madness lies. For me it's enough to know that all but the 1985 are great performances, the sound is about even between 1966 and 1975, with 1960 in serviceable stereo, while the live 1959 Salzburg must be counted one of those events that no one will ever forget who was fortunate enough to be present.

An Absolute Mess!.......2005-05-19

I remember listening to this recording at 14 and understanding even then that this was absolutely one of the worst performances of any work I've heard! Now, 11 years later, I still lament the fact that I learned this work primarily through this recording (and the Davis/LSO recording, not much better). At that point, because of this I thought performances of this work were SUPPOSED to be a bunch of people screaming at the top of their lungs and a big jumble of instruments not being played together correctly in time. Then when I was old enough to be able to read the score I realized that this recording was a disaster in so many ways, as it still sticks out in my mind today.

Sometimes I still think about this recording and laugh. I have once or twice entertained the notion of buying this recording just so I could scoff at it, and to gain a better apprecation for the truly great recordings that are out there (GARDINER, Solti/Berlin, Toscanini)

Didn't any of you notice that the orchestra and the chorus are rarely able to play together? They seem to be playing on two different planets... and it just ends up sounding like a murky, muddied mess. What happened with getting it all together at the "Et resurrexit/Et ascendit?" Or what about the Quoniam? It seems Karajan overlooked the "Allegro" in "Allegro Maestoso," and just trudged along with sick sounding tenors and violins that can't outdo each other enough in allargando. As it is, there isn't one time in the whole piece where Karajan keeps a steady tempo.
And the tone of the chorus -- ah, the chorus! How truly irritating! When I first heard "Qui sedes ad dexteram patris," I went straightway to an encyclopedia to check if there had been any casualties -- It truly sounded as if the concert hall had collapsed!

I guess this was the style back in Karajan's day in the early 60's, and I'm utterly thankful that I didn't have to live through those times. Now, I fully realize that there were many great conductors doing wonderful things during that period. I'm a large fan of Fruhbeck de Burgos, as I have worked with him many times, as well as a great admirer of Solti, Levine and Boulez. I guess that as a Generation Xer (or whatever we twentysomethings are called nowadays), what we envision when we think of the 50's and 60's is the demigod Karajan, and all his big, over-the-top glory. Frankly, I have never had any use for his conducting... I don't understand it. I don't understand the big "conductor" pretenses -- the serious facial expressions, the grandiose tempi and the use of heavy orchestral sonorities that charcaterize him. I guess I belong to a generation of musicians that was taught that the composer has already incorporated the correct interpretation into the score, and that a clear and precise reading by conductor and musicians draws that out, not that the conductor comes to the score with all his crazy "interpretive" ideas and plays it in a way that might have been fashionable for 1960's Europe, but is more likely nothing the composer would even recognize as his own work. (Not to jab at Beethoven's obvious auditory impairment)

I have been spoiled for the last 10 years by the wonderful recording done by John Eliot Gardiner and his forces! I can't help but be devoted to this recording. The period instruments movement has been the movement of my generation, and I believe it can arguably be considered one of the most successful movements in modern music history. Thank goodness there are folks like John Eliot Gardiner, Trevor Pinnock and Marc Minkowski on that bandwagon, because if left in the wrong hands, I realize it had the potential to fail miserably. We all owe John Eliot Gardiner a debt of gratitude for his superb, enlightened performances, especially of Bach, Handel and Beethoven, but even of Holst and Kurt Weill!

As for you, Karajan, you were an enigmatic man... one that I admittedly will never understand. But now you've gone on and we have your baffling recordings to remember you by. They may be unfathomable, but they sure keep me thankful for the strides we've made in performance today!

Oh yes, I almost forgot... the only thing that saves this recording is the late Fritz Wunderlich; no other like him, really!

The Mount Everest of Missas Solemnis.......2003-02-09

Testament to the extraordinary level of achievement the long
tenure of Karajan in Berlin built up. And the 4 soloists are
simply sublime. Janowitz' shimmering soprano irradiates
spirituality, the so lamented Wunderlich shows why he is
considered irreplacible, and the couple Berry/Ludwig are at
their reliable best.

Beethoven: Symphony No. 9; Missa Solemnis

Average customer rating:

Ugh
Toscanini's late Beethoven
Improved sound, but not his best performances of these works
Beethoven's & Toscanini's Genius in Greatly Improved Sound

Beethoven: Symphony No. 9; Missa Solemnis

Manufacturer: RCA
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Similar Items:

Arturo Toscanini: Beethoven Symphonies Nos. 1,2,3,4
Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 5-8
Brahms: The Four Symphonies

ASIN: B00000F1BS
Release Date: 1998-10-26

Tracks:

Allegro Ma Non Troppo, Un Poco Maestoso
Molto Vivace
Adagio Molto E Cantabile; Andante Moderato
Presto; Allegro Assai

Tracks:

I. Kyrie - Assai Sostenuto
II. Gloria - Allegro Vivace
III. Credo - Allegro Ma Non Troppo
IV. Sanctus - Adagio
V. Agnus Dei - Adagio

Customer Reviews:

Ugh.......2003-12-31

If this is improved sound, I'd hate to hear the prior recordings. Compared with a typical modern recording, it's like hearing something that was recorded from outside a concert hall through the walls. And to me the performances aren't much better; it's hard to believe these 2 Beethoven masterpieces could be made boring, but Toscanini achieves it here.

With excellent modern recordings of the 9th (Gunter Wand's on RCA is my favorite) and the Missa Solemnis (Gardiner, Klemperer, and a terrific DVD conducted by Gielen) available, why anybody would waste their time listening to these recordings is beyond me.

Toscanini's late Beethoven.......2003-10-23

Here are the two late, great Beethoven works as interpreted by Arturo Toscanini and the NBC Symphony Orchestra in the recorded performances the Maestro approved for release.

The Beethoven ninth symphony was a work the Maestro loved and was featured in a number of concerts over the years. He made it clear to his friends and colleagues that he was never satisfied with his performances of the work. He admitted that sometimes the soloists were bad, sometimes the orchestra, and sometimes himself. Finally, in 1952, he recorded the work in Carnegie Hall following a broadcast concert. Toscanini was satisfied enough with this recording to allow it to be released. It's true there are some things in earlier recorded performances that are quite admirable, but this is the version that Toscanini approved. He was 85 years old and he said he was finally beginning to understand this masterpiece. He assembled a fine group of soloists and once again used the Robert Shaw Chorale, a rather small but outstanding group that had first worked with him in a broadcast performance of the ninth in 1945. There's no doubt that all of the musical forces in this recording worked very hard to please the Maestro and he was satisfied with his own work.

I find that the Maestro achieves the mysterious, dramatic qualities Beethoven intended in the first movement. The second movement is spritely and spirited as Toscanini really masters the lively scherzo. Then comes the profound third movement, so filled with longing and hoping. Beethoven rejects all previous attempts at dealing with life in the fourth movement, leading to the bass singing, "O Friends, not these sounds." The orchestra has already introduced us to the main theme of the "Ode to Joy," which is now sung by the bass and then the chorus. The theme returns again and again, interspersed with other wonderful thoughts. In Toscanini's hands, the finale builds until it is almost overwhelming. Admittedly, Beethoven had a hard time ending many of his works and one is almost amused at how long it takes for the composer to conclude his "joyous" thoughts. Perhaps Beethoven is reluctant to let go. He was indeed the first composer to write such extended codas and, in many ways, embraced many of the ideas that later became part of nineteenth century romanticism.

An interesting comparison is provided in the video recording of the April 1948 telecast of the ninth symphony by the NBC Symphony and the Robert Shaw Chorale from NBC Studio 8-H in New York City's Rockefeller Center. Here one can SEE how hard the Maestro worked on this symphony. It's also apparent, particularly in listening merely to the audio recording of the concert, that the orchestra was exhausted by the fourth movement. It's quite true that Beethoven, in the ninth symphony, demands a lot from the performers. Little wonder that only a few recordings or performances ever succeed completely. It may be that it's impossible to have a "perfect" performance of Beethoven's ninth symphony, but this 1952 recording may come close.

The challenges to the singers, both soloists and chorus, are especially demanding in Beethoven's "Missa Solemnis." Again, Toscanini approved a late recorded performance of this powerful work. This one dates from 1953 in Carnegie Hall. The demands on the chorus are incredible in the "Gloria" and in the "Et vita venturi" section of the "Credo," where Beethoven basically has the chorus sing a fantastic fugue that starts slowly and gradually speeds up to an almost impossible tempo. This is clearly what Beethoven asks from the sin