Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Mass in D major, “Missa solemnis”, Op.123

Riccardo Muti selects Beethoven’s daunting Missa solemnis for his final performance as Music Director of the Chicago Symphony, a performance that proves worthy of his remarkable tenure.

One of the leading events of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden's Festtage, Jérémie Rhorer's interpretation of the Missa solemnis is a monument to the composer... but its marble is not always too cleanly carved.

An admirable but disjointed performance of Beethoven's sacred choral work did not benefit from an extratextual art installation.

Fine orchestral sound and outstanding solo singing from Sarah Connolly and Steve Davislim aren't enough to compensate for poor balance and timing in Beethoven's great choral work.

The conductor favours measured tempi and unfussy direction, allowing the work to stand mountain-like as an expression of its own intrinsic magnificence.

In “five large symphonic movements”, the performance had a celebratory air, poised somewhere between Mahler's “Resurrection” Symphony and Mozart's Requiem.

These two Manchester-based choirs formed a formidable partnership for one of the most gruelling choral works in the repertoire. The four soloists, however distinguished as individuals, produced mixed results.

Philippe Herreweghe deftly coordinated the four vocalists, the Rotterdam Philharmonic, and his Collegium Vocale Gent through Beethoven’s challenging score.

Leaving little to chance, Donal Runnicles attends to every detail in a powerful performance of the Missa solemnis in Atlanta. 

The NSO, Philharmonic Chorus under the baton of Macelaru give a riveting account of Beethoven's Missa solemnis.

There aren’t too many more ambitious pieces of music one could choose to celebrate a birthday than Beethoven's Missa solemnis.

Sir John Eliot Gardiner conducts the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique and the Monteverdi Choir in a late night performance of Beethoven's Missa Solemnis at the BBC Proms.

Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis is an odd piece. Despite having a rich recorded legacy, it is not a piece that one encounters often in the concert hall. The technical challenges of this music are up there with virtually any other piece of combined music for choir and orchestra.

Whether intentionally or not, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment has done Christianity’s street cred a great service this week. As the St Paul’s protest furore continues to grow, the orchestra’s performance of Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis was a reminder that for the composer and countless others, religion is first and foremost about the comfort of spirituality.

The last of this season’s Proms Choral Sundays featured one of the most complex of all choral works, Beethoven’s massive Missa Solemnis, written around the time of his 9th symphony. Sir Colin Davis likened performing it to “Failing to reach the top of Mount Everest”, and Sara Mohr-Pietsch (in her excellent Proms Plus talk) mentioned the description of “the most famous work you have never heard”.

Thomas Hengelbrock al frente del conjunto y coro Balthasar-Neumann concibió una Missa solemnis de Beethoven técnicamente impecable e igualmente conmovedora.

Auch mit diesem überwältigenden Stück voller Kontraste bestritten die Stammgäste um Thomas Hengelbrock einen überaus denkwürdigen Auftritt im Konzerthaus.

À la tête de son fidèle Cercle de l'Harmonie, d'une superbe Audi Jugendchorakademie et d'un quatuor de solistes en belle forme, le chef a magnifiquement servi l'œuvre monumentale de Beethoven.

Algunos momentos memorables destacaron en una interpretación de la Missa solemnis de Beethoven a la que por otra parte faltó expresividad y direccionalidad.

Zum Weihnachtsoratorium eigener Art gestalteten Chor und Orchester der Philharmoniker in München Beethovens große Messe.

L'orchestre et le chœur dirigés par Thomas Hengelbrock ont livré une belle interprétation mais trop peu contrastée et surprenante pour véritablement émouvoir.

Mit hochkarätigen Solist*innen bringt Sir John Eliot Gardiner Beethovens Missa solemnis in Berlin zu Gehör.

Rarement donnée en concert, l'ouvrage beethovenien a bénéficié d'une interprétation extraordinaire sous la baguette du maestro américain.

La Orquestra de Cadaqués ofrece su último concierto en el Auditorio Nacional acompañada por Martin Fröst y el Coro Estatal de Letonia.

La Semana de Música Religiosa de Cuenca es el marco ideal para ofrecer grandes obras de la música clásica concebidas siguiendo el sentir religioso y la *Missa solemnis* de Beethoven es una de estas grandes obras. Hemos tenido ocasión de escucharla en el insuperable enclave del Teatro Auditorio de Cuenca.

Christian Thielemann und die Berliner Philharmoniker wussten bei Beethovens Missa solemnis ganz im Sinne des Komponisten Frieden in der Musik herzustellen.