Title: Beethoven: Missa solemnis, Op.123 Artist: Georg Solti Release Date: 1995 Label: London Duration: 77:16 Album Type(s): composition (work) description, lyrics/libretto UPC: 028944433722 Genre: Choral Music Total Copies: 1 Number of Discs/SwapaCD Credits: 1

1. Mass for soloists, chorus & orchestra in D major ("Missa Solemnis"), Op. 123
2. Mass for soloists, chorus & orchestra in D major ("Missa Solemnis"), Op. 123
3. Mass for soloists, chorus & orchestra in D major ("Missa Solemnis"), Op. 123
4. Mass for soloists, chorus & orchestra in D major ("Missa Solemnis"), Op. 123
5. Mass for soloists, chorus & orchestra in D major ("Missa Solemnis"), Op. 123
6. Mass for soloists, chorus & orchestra in D major ("Missa Solemnis"), Op. 123
7. Mass for soloists, chorus & orchestra in D major ("Missa Solemnis"), Op. 123
8. Mass for soloists, chorus & orchestra in D major ("Missa Solemnis"), Op. 123
9. Mass for soloists, chorus & orchestra in D major ("Missa Solemnis"), Op. 123
10. Mass for soloists, chorus & orchestra in D major ("Missa Solemnis"), Op. 123
11. Mass for soloists, chorus & orchestra in D major ("Missa Solemnis"), Op. 123

You know the old debate over the Missa Solemnis, the whole "Is it sacred music for the concert hall or secular music for the church" question? Don't worry about it. The issue doesn't come up in this 1994 recording of the work with Georg Solti conducting the Berlin Philharmonic. For Solti, the answer is an obvious one: the Missa Solemnis may have a sacred text, but it is in every way a dramatic work for the opera house. But what a dramatic work! Remember, this is Solti, the screaming skull, the conductor who transformed Wagner's Ring into the Greatest Story Ever Told, but whose power and conviction made it work at a supremely high level. What else could he do with the Missa Solemnis except play it to the last row in the bleachers? That isn't to say that Solti's Missa Solemnis isn't unbelievably dramatic. The playing and singing are strong and virtuosic, plus they sustain an unbearable level of intensity through the entire length of the work. The problem is that the whole performance is unbelievable and unbearable, a deadly combination in Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, one of the highest and holiest works of musical art in the history of humanity. London's sound is clear, but otherwise unimpressive. ~ James Leonard, All Music Guide

Name Credits Anne Kirchbach Photography Anne Schneider Booklet Editor Barbara Baran Cover Photo Berlin Radio Symphony Chorus Choir, Chorus Berliner Philharmoniker Orchestra Christian Steiner Cover Design Christopher Pope Producer Deborah Gilbert Editing Erich Lessing Cover Art Georg Solti Conductor H.C. Robbins Landon Artistic Consultation Iris Vermillion Vocals Jeremy Tilston Artwork John Pellowe Engineer Julia Varady Soprano (Vocal) Kolja Blacher Violin Michael Woolcock Producer Monika Rittershaus Photography Neil Hutchinson Engineer Philip Siney Engineer René Pape Bass (Vocal) Robin Gritton Choir Master Terry O'Neill Photography Vinson Cole Tenor (Vocal) Zafer Baran Cover Art