Beethoven, Missa Solemnis, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Arnold Schoenberg Choir, Concentus Musicus Wien (Sony)The first box-set I ever bought, circa 1978, was Harnoncourt's Brandenburg Concertos on LP's. What a luxury it was, compared to these spendthrift days when one buys anything one feels like buying, and what a glorious thing to have. So it seemed fitting to order this last recording, a live performance from Graz, July 2015.
We ought not to bring any preconceived idea of 'solemness' to what Beethoven meant by 'solemnis'. Bach's B Minor Mass sounds from its title alone as if it will be a work of gravitas and dark profundity, which in some ways it is, but it is bright, lively and energetic, too. The Missa Solemnis similarly overturns any assumptions we might have made with Beethoven showing us the riot of passion that surged inside him. Here are all the phrasings and mannerisms from the most daring and explosive of his symphonies which are triumphant and heroic in their revolt against purely classical style.
We have to wait quite some time before any respite is offered by the Benedictus, by which time it is welcome, the solo violin part in its high registers exploring elsewhere on its own, lone trajectory. To say that is the highlight of the piece might be to suggest that one has felt battered, rather than inspired, by Beethoven's exuberance up to then and there could be some truth in that. Whereas the late quartets and Fidelio are not as forbidding as one might think, you need to know not to come to the Missa Solemnis in search of calm contemplation.
It is possible to love Mozart unconditionally, to admire Bach beyond anything else and enjoy Handel for the sheer luxury of it all but Beethoven's restless, perturbed spirit is another thing altogether when he is in this mood and, Moonlight Sonata, the gentle parts of the Pastoral Symphony and no.5 notwithstanding, he often is. I thought I was going to find parallels with Bach's choral music in this but, no, it is nearly all contrast.
When other teenage boys had Led Zeppelin, or perhaps Suzi Quatro, posters on their bedroom wall, I had Beethoven, and Claudio Abbado, so his troubled expression has long been with me, brooding through those symphonies I collected then. He is to be celebrated in a way that perhaps no others can be but, having played this several times now, I wonder how often it will be taken from the shelf once it has been filed there. Older, but not much wiser, it is likely I'll pick out The Well-Tempered Klavier or one of the Tallis Scholars discs ahead of this because I don't usually want to be shaken and stirred to quite this extent. Maybe I need to be.
But coming next is Lee 'Scratch ' Perry's Arkology set, which will keep me busy for a while. It would be interesting to know what Ludwig would have made of that.
