Beethoven: Missa Solemnis

Beethoven: Missa Solemnis

Beethoven: Missa Solemnis
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CD Details

Brand: ROYAL CONCERTGEBOUW
Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven
Conductor: Leonard Bernstein
Orchestra: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Edition: Music CD
Audio: German (Unknown); German (Published)
Format: Import
CD Release Date: 2000-11-01
Music Label: Dg Imports
Soundtracks:
  1. Kyrie Eleison
  2. Christe Eleison
  3. Kyrie Eleison
  4. Allegro Vivace- Gloria In Excelsis Deo
  5. Qui Tollis Peccata Mundi, Miserere Nobis
  6. Quoniam Tu Solus Sanctus
  7. In Gloria Dei Patris, Amen
  8. Amen, Amen, In Gloria Dei Patris
  9. Allegro Ma Non Troppo- Credo In Unum Deum
  10. Et Incarnatus Est
  11. Et Ascendit In Coelum
  12. Et Vitam Venturi Saeculi
  13. Amen, Et Vitam Venturi Saeculi Amen
  14. Adagio- Sactus, Sanctus, Sanctus Dominus, Deus Sabaoth
  15. Pleni Sunt Coeli Et Terra
  16. Praeludium
  17. Benedictus, Qui Venit In Nomine Domini
  18. Adagio- Agnus Dei, Qui Tollis Peccata Mundi
  19. Dona Nobis Pacem
  20. Agnus Dei, Qui Tollis Peccata Mundi
  21. Presto

Music reviews of Beethoven: Missa Solemnis

Music Review: Traditional, but outstanding
Rating: 5 Stars

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.
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Description of Beethoven: Missa Solemnis

No Description Available.
Genre: Classical Music
Media Format: Compact Disk
Rating:
Release Date: 1-NOV-2000

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