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Beethoven: Messe C-Dur & Leonore Overture
Genia Kühmeier (soprano), Gerhild Romberger (alto), Maximilian Schmitt (tenor), Luca Pisaroni (bass-baritone), Symphonie-Orchester und Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Mariss Jansons
Awards:
-
Presto Editor's Choice, December 2018
Thrilling playing and solid singing from a reliable crack team – the superb recorded sound brings Beethoven’s liturgical work to almost operatic life.
Beethoven: Messe C-Dur & Leonore Overture
Genia Kühmeier (soprano), Gerhild Romberger (alto), Maximilian Schmitt (tenor), Luca Pisaroni (bass-baritone), Symphonie-Orchester und Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Mariss Jansons
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Awards:
-
Presto Editor's Choice, December 2018
Thrilling playing and solid singing from a reliable crack team – the superb recorded sound brings Beethoven’s liturgical work to almost operatic life.
About
The tonal language of Beethoven’s Mass in C major, the first of his two Mass settings, is that of a personal confession, making the work very modern and forward-looking and opening up entirely new worlds of expression for the liturgical text. It is in no way to be seen as a precursor of the "Missa solemnis' but instead as a highly independent work that set new standards for the advancement of mass compositions in the 19th century. Beethoven himself was well aware of its innovative nature, and wrote as much in a letter to his publisher: 'I am reluctant to say anything about my Mass, or indeed about myself, but I do believe that I have treated the text in a manner to which it has rarely been treated.' For people at the time, the Mass in C major, Op. 86 of 1807 provided unprecedented access to the Christian faith in a way that is still relevant today.
Contents and tracklist
- Genia Kühmeier (soprano), Gerhild Romberger (alto), Maximilian Schmitt (tenor), Luca Pisaroni (bass-baritone)
- Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Symphonie-Orchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks
- Mariss Jansons
- Recorded: 11-12 January 2018
- Recording Venue: Philharmonie im Gasteig, München, Germany
- Symphonie-Orchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks
- Mariss Jansons
- Recorded: 29-30 January 2004
- Recording Venue: Herkulessaal der Residenz, München, Germany
Awards and reviews
-
Presto Editor's ChoiceDecember 2018
April 2019
Thrilling playing and solid singing from a reliable crack team – the superb recorded sound brings Beethoven’s liturgical work to almost operatic life.
January 2019
Instrumental colours are bright, exact and assertive. Were there a slider for musical rather than picture contrast, it would be set at maximum…Beethoven insisted that they keynotes of his Mass were cheerfulness and gentleness, and these qualities are evident in a tenderly shaped Sanctus and Benedictus.
March 2019
Lucid and buoyant with no shortage of drama.
December 2018
A buoyant and incisive live performance from Jansons and his Bavarian forces, with the large chorus and strings on particularly trenchant form, not least in the nimble ‘Et vitam venturi’ section of the Credo. The solo quartet blends well, with Luca Pisaroni launching the ‘Et resurrexit’ with real conviction and wonder. An exhilarating account of Leonore III is much more than a makeweight, echoing the sense of deliverance and jubilation of the Mass itself in miniature.
