Search - Ludwig van Beethoven, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra :: Beethoven: Mass In C - Missa Solemnis

Legendary Missa

Gregg M. Howell | 09/14/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Solti's legendary 1978 Grammy Award winning Missa Solemnis - at this incredible price makes this CD a MUST BUY!!! It is a MUST for every serious Missa fan. Even if you have one hundred other Missa Recordings, this is a MUST!!!!Ths soloists are incredible and the Chicago Symphony Chorus is just that - the world's finest symphony chorus. Quite rightly so because the Chicago Symphony Chorus has earned more Grammys than any other SYmphony Chorus in the world.Buy it. You will never regret it."

ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS!!! FANTASTIC!!! SUPERLATIVES!!!!!!

Daniel | NY, New York | 08/29/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Missa Solemnis is in effect an awesome choral symphony of an unheard of scale - one that only Beethoven could have pulled off. The performance of the Missa Solemnis by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Chorus led by Sir Georg Solti and Margaret Hills is absolutely FABULOUS!!! This performance is absolutely deserving of the Grammy it won in 1978 for Best Choral Performance. Note that the Missa was performed in 1978 but reissued in 1997. And it is still selling like hot cakes. Sir Georg Solti is indeed worthy of the honor of winning more Grammys than any other artist. Solti won 31 Grammys. His archrival Karajan only won 15 Grammys.The cast of soloist is superb. Lucia Popp is absolutely fantastic. Listen to her at the opening Kyrie. Yvonne Minton is a superb contralto. Mallory Walker and Gwynne Howell are fabulous singers.The choral singing is First Class and UNSURPASSED. The Chicago Symphony Chorus is among the best choirs in the world. The audition their singers every two years - even those who are incumbent in the choir!!! This is one performance that I return to over and over again. The music is extremely soothing. Great listening for frayed nerves. Guaranteed to calm your nerves.At mid price, this CD is VERY VERY STRONGLY recommended. There is a bonus - Chailly's well liked Mass in C major thrown in. The performance is fine - great singing, great performance but not the best in the world. But who cares? The Missa Solemnis itself is worth the price and should be the real reason you are buying the CD. Nevertheless, the Mass in C is well performed and it is one performance you will go back to over and over again."

Solti's Missa Solemnis is unrivalled for execution

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 05/23/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Solti's first Missa Solemnis was an also-ran from the start, earning unfavorable comparison with Klemperer's famous account on EMI. But time has made it shine brighter. Decca's recording is much clearer than the EMI one, the CSO plays with incredible virtuosity, accuracy, and decisiveness, and above all the CSO Chorus gives an astonishing account of the choral part. Solti lacks Klemperer's emotional depth, but he's also not as ponderous in the fugures. His solo quartet features a weak, bleaty tenor (Mallory Walker) but the others are very good, especially the gleaming Lucia Popp (whose light soprano is aided greatly by the microphones, as are all the other soloists--the quartet is placed far forward). The reviewer here who thinks that the chorus is off form has rocks in his ears. Solti's interpretation blazes along in the style of Toscanini.



In sum, a sleeper among Missa Solemnis recordings, and probably the most purely exciting ever recorded, if not the most profound. The digital remake from Berlin is slower, in edgier sound, and features the Berlin Radio Chorous, an impressive group who are nonetheless no match for this one. In addition they don't receive as clear a recording of their contribution."