Seen and Heard Concert
Review
Beethoven, Missa Solemnis:
Claudia Barainsky (soprano), Christianne Stotijn (mezzo-soprano),
Benjamin Hulett (tenor), Michael Volle (bass), Alessandro Moccia
(violin), Collegium Vocale Gent, Orchestre des Champs-Elysées,
Philippe Herreweghe (conductor), Barbican, 7 May, 2005 (MB)
It is almost ten years since Philippe Herreweghe released his
first recording of Beethoven’s great Missa Solemnis,
and in many ways this conductor’s approach remains little
changed. That is – and was – a blessing for this performance
proved to be both deeply spiritual and a perfect example of how
period music making can be inspirational in the concert hall.
Tempi are not as fleeting as they are with Gardiner, but nor as
they are ponderous as they were with Klemperer, and yet Herreweghe
somehow manages to incorporate the virtues of both: there is crystalline
clarity given to both the orchestra and the chorus, but there
is also a sense of reverence and humility given to the overall
concept of this masterpiece that made it a profoundly moving and
liberating experience.
Striking throughout this performance was the quite wonderful singing
of the Collegium Vocale Gent, balanced to utter perfection so
their immediacy and vibrancy coursed through the veins of Beethoven’s
vision with a human presence. Their response was never less than
meticulous, and the vocal stress points which Beethoven makes
on its singers (especially the sopranos) was overcome with the
kind of reverence to detail which it is unusual to hear in the
concert hall. Their shading, their dynamics and their ability
to sustain the anarchic cross rhythms played out against the orchestra
were simply unsurpassable. The orchestra itself, proving that
vibratoless string playing need not be dry or without depth, radicalized
Beethoven’s scoring to chamber-like precision: the furious,
upward motivic scales of the Gloria had a Pentecostal glow to
them, the woodwind solos – including a magical contribution
from the flute – in the Credo added vocal timbres to the
orchestration, and the solo violin of the Benedictus, played with
judicious vibrato, had a sweetness and shimmering beauty which
added a fifth voice to the quartet. The martial fanfares of the
brass and timpani were restrained, yet at the same time had a
ferocity that bubbled tremulously throughout, pulsing with a constant
war-like march, even in moments of profound contemplation and
benediction. Antiphonally divided violins sharpened the perspective
of Beethoven’s orchestration, just as ‘cellos rose
effortlessly from the centre of the orchestra in a brooding, melancholic
distillation of darkness and prayer.
All four soloists were outstanding. Barainsky’s effortless
soprano soared angelically, and yet remained wholly human, Stotijn’s
gorgeous mezzo was a miracle of warm, rich tone, Hulett’s
distinctive, defined and intensely lyrical tenor bestrode the
orchestra with magnificent power and Volle’s bass excelled
in the Agnus Dei. All four brought not just a splendour to their
singing but a genuine vibrancy which was at one with both the
chorus and orchestra.
Beethoven inscribed on his score of this work, ‘From the
heart: may it go to the heart.’ In every sense, this performance
was an absolute expression of that sentiment.
Marc Bridle
