Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor Rob Barnett Editor in Chief
John Quinn Contributing Editor Ralph Moore Webmaster
David Barker Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf MusicWeb Founder Len Mullenger
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN (1770-1827) Missa Solemnisin D, Op. 123 [75:27] Annelies Kupper
(soprano); Sieglinde Wagner (contralto); Rudolf Schock (tenor);
Josef Greindl (bass); Kölner Rundfunkchor; Chor
des Norddeutschen Rundfunks
Kölner Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester/Otto Klemperer
rec. Funkhaus, Sall1, WDR Cologne, 6 June 1955 MEDICI MASTERS
MM015-2 [75:27]
Klemperer was a
great Beethoven conductor; the Missa Solemnis is one
of Beethoven’s greatest works. For many musicians both of these
statements are true, but unfortunately that does not necessarily
make this a great recording of the work.
Klemperer made
two commercial recordings of the Mass, in 1951 for Vox and
in 1965 for EMI. Falling between the two, this performance
might be expected to combine the virtues of the younger and
more vigorous conductor together with a longer rehearsal time
than he had been permitted for his first recording. Unfortunately
these are linked to a recording and possibly a performance
which completely irons out the contrasts both inherent and
essential in this music. For much of the time the work sounds
matter of fact and lacking in contrast. Klemperer’s wonderful
ability to meld movements together into a whole – especially
in the Credo – is evident, and he achieves a marvellous
cumulative tension to each movement, but in the absence of
that feeling of tension which I regard as an essential part
of the work’s character, I found listening to it a lifeless
experience.
I write this with
great regret, having heard Klemperer live on many occasions
and I have been profoundly moved by his live and recorded Beethoven
performances. The soloists are generally good and the orchestra
and chorus are much more than that, but the ironing out of
contrast, possibly largely due to the recording, means that
the work has nothing like the impact that it can, and surely
should, have. I listened to the 1939 Toscanini recording – equally
let down by its recording – immediately after it and straightaway
appreciated, despite the coarse brass and variable soloists,
that that was a performance which went right to the heart of
this extraordinary music. The present recording is worth hearing
as an example of how Beethoven’s quirky changes of time and
character can be successfully linked together into a whole,
but overall it fails to do justice to the work. Otherwise it
can be recommended only to fans of the conductor who must have
everything he did.
Annelies Kupper
(soprano); Sieglinde Wagner (contralto); Rudolf Schock (tenor);
Josef Greindl (bass); Kölner Rundfunkchor; Chor
des Norddeutschen Rundfunks 
