Customer Reviews

Beethoven: Christ on the Mount of Olives; Mass in C major

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2 star:		(1)
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This is one of my all time favorite recordings. Rilling leads a performance that is straight-forward and honest. No tricks, no special effects. He and his forces reveal Beethoven's great oratorio as the masterpiece that it is. It is one of those recordings that I like better each time I play it, which is often. I'm not quite sure how he Rilling works his magic. I think it's the way he keeps every thing in balance and gives everything it's due. I think he also has the knack of inspiring just plain wonderful music making from his performers. This performance is also as exciting as it is elegant. Give it a try.

I have to admit that I purchased this CD to basically fill out my Beethoven collection. And I chose this version because of the recommedation of the reviewer below. But it is just a beautiful revelation of music. The recording quality is very high. The problem with a lot of choral/orchestral combination recordings is muddled sound. On this recording the voices and the orchestra come through clearly without a lot of frills and obvious technical magic from the recording engineers. The conductor, Rilling, also does the same thing. He has the preformers bring exactly what is needed to the recording but has them leave their tricks at home. Its the majesty of the music that stands out, not the players, which makes it a genuine triumph for everyone involved in bringing this recording out.

When I play this disc I think of all the bloated recordings of the ninth symphony I have heard. Conductors and engineers trying to stuff discs with all the magic they have on hand in order to make the music sound really IMPRESSIVE. Well, on this disc, Rilling takes the exact right approach.

I may not play this everyday, but I play it pretty frequently. Thanks to the reviewer Alan Johnson for a great find.

I couldn't agree more with what the other reviewers on this page have said about this recording. But I want to add a note about the music since it will be unfamiliar to many. Apparently Beethoven had problems completing Christus am Oelburg; there is a quaint story of his sitting up in bed feverishly writing out the trombone parts early the morning of the first performance of the work. But if the piece isn't in the class of the Missa Solemnis or the Choral Symphony, what pieces by anyone are? The oratorio is still a fine example of Beethoven in his early middle period (that is, around the time of the Eroica). It is also around the time of the Heiligenstadt Testament, in which Beethoven lamented his growing deafness. Much of the darkness and despair of this time shows up in the early pages of the work, potently and appropriately somber, colored by those all-important trombone parts that Beethoven labored over. But there is also wonderfully expressive vocal writing for the soloists, who represent Jesus, Peter, and an angel, with a deeply felt final solo for Jesus. And the gloom lifts in a glorious apotheosis at the end. The chorus, too, has wonderful music to sing, whether as Roman soldiers, with wicked glee at finding Jesus in the Garden, or as the faithful celebrating His sacrifice in the final pages of the work.

The Mass in C, while not one of Beethoven's most popular works, is more familiar and should be even more so. It had a rather unfortunate genesis too. Beethoven wrote it for Haydn's patron Prince Nicholas Esterhazy, but the prince didn't get it. He asked Beethoven what he had done to the fine old choral tradition that Haydn had carried on so admirably in his masses. But if the prince wasn't forward-looking enough to get what Beethoven was all about, we can see the Mass in C as a study for the great Missa Solemnis--somewhat blander, less grandiose certainly, but it has all the earmarks of Beethoven's etched-from-granite classicism and is a beautiful work in its own right. Try the fleet Et resurrexit or the tender Kyrie and Dona nobis pacem that bookend the piece.

Everything works perfectly in this recording. Rilling is certainly one of the most reliable choral conductors around today, and his performances are models of how these works should go, with perfectly chosen tempi and dynamics. Rilling gets great support from his forces as well; his soloists especially are all of the very first order. The sound is a model in itself: detailed, highly transparent, potent as the music itself. Yes, this is one of the best Beethoven choral recordings available.

Why our modern choral conductors have insisted that just because music has a chorus in it means that it has to be constantly up tempo, dry, and clear. This is Beethoven, not Monteverdi! There is absolutely nothing inspiring about this recording, it is simply the notes as they are written. If that is your thing (all you Robert Shaw fans), then by all means, buy this recording, but if you like your Beethoven to sound like Beethoven, find another one. All of the above applies to both the mass and the oratorio.