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Music : Beethoven: Missa Solemnis /Monteverdi Choir · English Baroque Soloists · Gardiner
1 2
Rating: 
- What an incredible rush. So good, it should be banned.
This is a wonderful recording of what must rank as one of the most awesome pieces of music ever written. Personally I can listen to this 3 times in a row, and will have goose pimples all the way through, for 3 hours solid, every time. This music is just so jaw-droppingly, humongously, enormously, epically BIG!!! If this music was a painting it would cover a canvas the size of a football field. If this music was a sculpture it would dwarf the Eifel tower. It is truly incomprehensible. Luckily you don't have to comprehend, it's enough to fasten your seat belt, turn up the volume, and prepare to take leave of planet humdrum for an unforgettable ride.
One remark on this particular recording: some reviewers (e.g. Milan) think this recording compares unfavorably with the Klemperer. I own both recordings, and I strongly disagree. In fact, I bought this recording because the Klemperer recording had given me an inkling that the missa solemnis was a particular gem, but the Klemperer recording was simply not good enough to do it justice. For starters, the Klemperer is not a digital recording, but is done from old, poor quality masters that lack in clarity and depth and sound very flat, like listening to the music through a garden hose. The same certainly cannot be said of this Gardiner recording, which is so sharp and clear that, when you listen to it on a good stereo, you think the orchestra is sitting right next to you (which is half the fun, because it's a BIG orchestra making HUGE music, and they couldn't possibly fit in my little room, but here they all are nevertheless). Furthermore, I am convinced the Klemperer is far too ponderous and slow throughout. This Gardiner recording, in contrast, picks up the pace where appropriate (and here it is often appropriate - the fanfares and crescendos of Christ returning in a blaze of glory can't be done at a ponderous, ambling pace, they've got to ROCK your socks off, and in this recording they most certainly do). I'm sure Ludwig would have approved. Just compare Beethoven's 'Tempest' piano sonata and it is obvious that Ludwig was well into dramatic tempo changes and loved the occasional 'furioso'. Gardiner understood this and makes it happen here. (Unlike Klemperer, who either didn't get it or just couldn't keep up).
In a nutshell, this is a fine interpretation of the biggest, most incredible music on earth. For the price an absolute steal.
Rating:
- Unpleasant disappointment
I bought the CD after reading the recommendations by other owners. I will not say that I regret it (how can one regret having a copy of any performance of Solemnis?) but I will say that I was quite disappointed. I gave thought on it since I don't like the Don Giovanni under Gardiner, but, this is a lesson learned for me. I do not know whether it is because I am too much in awe of Klemperer but my ear is not coping with Gardiner's odd interpretation, it just lacks the strength, dynamism and convincing singing (soloists & choir) I experience with Klemperer. To conclude, I would not recommend it to anyone that regards Klemperer as the "Alpha and Omega".
Milan
Rating: - Follow that with a collect...
I had to look at the score of this piece at one time, and our library had this recording. It was the first time I had heard Sir John Eliot performing Beethoven, and I was blown away.
Fortunately he and his crowd gave a concert performance at the Barbican a few years ago, and age has not withered them - not a note wrong anywhere! Every bit as electrifying as one would expect of his Beethoven: his speeds are well judged yet catch you up and pull you along - the end of the Gloria for instance is far too exciting!
A very good work and an excellent performance from the leading exponent of Beethoven.
Rating: - Brilliant
I grew up on the grand and wonderful Klemperer version. This is quite different - and more thrilling. The faster tempi adopted by Gardiner are not adopted at the expense of the weightiness and typical Beethoven solidity of this mighty work. The soloists are excellent and the playing great. An outstanding achievement
Rating: - Beautiful Beethoven
This Missa Solemnis was my introduction to Beethoven's choral music ten years ago when I was about to play in a performance of the piece, and I can honestly say that I haven't found another recording since which comes close.
The reletively small orchestra and chorus used mean that there is huge clarity throughout (for once you can hear the solo strings doubling the solo voices in the 'Et incarnatus est'), the tempi are never needlessly slow, it's an incredibly dramatic rendition (the strings and clarinets in the 'Crucifixus' actually sound like the hammering in of nails), and a few highlights for me have to be the flute solo in the 'Et incarnatus est' (again!), the prelude to the Benedictus on divisi violas and cellos (again such a clear sound that you can hear the flutes doubling the viola lines near the bottom of their register), and the wonderful quintet for soloists and solo violin that is the Benedictus itself.
Oh, just go and buy it and listen for yourself!
- What an incredible rush. So good, it should be banned.This is a wonderful recording of what must rank as one of the most awesome pieces of music ever written. Personally I can listen to this 3 times in a row, and will have goose pimples all the way through, for 3 hours solid, every time. This music is just so jaw-droppingly, humongously, enormously, epically BIG!!! If this music was a painting it would cover a canvas the size of a football field. If this music was a sculpture it would dwarf the Eifel tower. It is truly incomprehensible. Luckily you don't have to comprehend, it's enough to fasten your seat belt, turn up the volume, and prepare to take leave of planet humdrum for an unforgettable ride.
One remark on this particular recording: some reviewers (e.g. Milan) think this recording compares unfavorably with the Klemperer. I own both recordings, and I strongly disagree. In fact, I bought this recording because the Klemperer recording had given me an inkling that the missa solemnis was a particular gem, but the Klemperer recording was simply not good enough to do it justice. For starters, the Klemperer is not a digital recording, but is done from old, poor quality masters that lack in clarity and depth and sound very flat, like listening to the music through a garden hose. The same certainly cannot be said of this Gardiner recording, which is so sharp and clear that, when you listen to it on a good stereo, you think the orchestra is sitting right next to you (which is half the fun, because it's a BIG orchestra making HUGE music, and they couldn't possibly fit in my little room, but here they all are nevertheless). Furthermore, I am convinced the Klemperer is far too ponderous and slow throughout. This Gardiner recording, in contrast, picks up the pace where appropriate (and here it is often appropriate - the fanfares and crescendos of Christ returning in a blaze of glory can't be done at a ponderous, ambling pace, they've got to ROCK your socks off, and in this recording they most certainly do). I'm sure Ludwig would have approved. Just compare Beethoven's 'Tempest' piano sonata and it is obvious that Ludwig was well into dramatic tempo changes and loved the occasional 'furioso'. Gardiner understood this and makes it happen here. (Unlike Klemperer, who either didn't get it or just couldn't keep up).
In a nutshell, this is a fine interpretation of the biggest, most incredible music on earth. For the price an absolute steal.
Rating:
- Unpleasant disappointmentI bought the CD after reading the recommendations by other owners. I will not say that I regret it (how can one regret having a copy of any performance of Solemnis?) but I will say that I was quite disappointed. I gave thought on it since I don't like the Don Giovanni under Gardiner, but, this is a lesson learned for me. I do not know whether it is because I am too much in awe of Klemperer but my ear is not coping with Gardiner's odd interpretation, it just lacks the strength, dynamism and convincing singing (soloists & choir) I experience with Klemperer. To conclude, I would not recommend it to anyone that regards Klemperer as the "Alpha and Omega".
Milan
Rating:
- Follow that with a collect...I had to look at the score of this piece at one time, and our library had this recording. It was the first time I had heard Sir John Eliot performing Beethoven, and I was blown away.
Fortunately he and his crowd gave a concert performance at the Barbican a few years ago, and age has not withered them - not a note wrong anywhere! Every bit as electrifying as one would expect of his Beethoven: his speeds are well judged yet catch you up and pull you along - the end of the Gloria for instance is far too exciting!
A very good work and an excellent performance from the leading exponent of Beethoven.
Rating:
- BrilliantI grew up on the grand and wonderful Klemperer version. This is quite different - and more thrilling. The faster tempi adopted by Gardiner are not adopted at the expense of the weightiness and typical Beethoven solidity of this mighty work. The soloists are excellent and the playing great. An outstanding achievement
Rating:
- Beautiful BeethovenThis Missa Solemnis was my introduction to Beethoven's choral music ten years ago when I was about to play in a performance of the piece, and I can honestly say that I haven't found another recording since which comes close.
The reletively small orchestra and chorus used mean that there is huge clarity throughout (for once you can hear the solo strings doubling the solo voices in the 'Et incarnatus est'), the tempi are never needlessly slow, it's an incredibly dramatic rendition (the strings and clarinets in the 'Crucifixus' actually sound like the hammering in of nails), and a few highlights for me have to be the flute solo in the 'Et incarnatus est' (again!), the prelude to the Benedictus on divisi violas and cellos (again such a clear sound that you can hear the flutes doubling the viola lines near the bottom of their register), and the wonderful quintet for soloists and solo violin that is the Benedictus itself.
Oh, just go and buy it and listen for yourself!