Beethoven: Missa Solemnis (plus rehearsals) / Mozart: Symphony No. 38- Prague [Import, Original recording remastered]

Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (Artist), Christa Ludwig / Nicolai Gedda (Artist), Nicola Zaccaria (Artist), Ludwig van Beethoven (Composer), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Composer), Herbert von Karajan (Conductor), Philharmonia Orchestra of London (Orchestra), Alan Saunders (interviewer) (Performer), Hugh Bean (violin) (Performer), Vienna Singverein (Choir) (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Alan Saunders (interviewer), Hugh Bean (violin), Vienna Singverein (Choir)
• Orchestra: Philharmonia Orchestra of London
• Conductor: Herbert von Karajan
• Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• Audio CD (October 10, 2006)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Import, Original recording remastered
• Label: Testament UK
• ASIN: B000007NKV
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #284,239 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #45 in Music > Classical > Opera & Vocal > Divas > Ludwig, Christa

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. An Interview With Alan Saunders On 7.8.97 In Zumikon, Switzerland

2. Kyrie

3. Gloria

4. Credo

5. Sanctus - Benedictus

Disc: 2

1. Agnus Dei

2. I. Adagio - Allegro

3. II. Andante

4. III. Finale (Presto)

5. Rehearsal Sessions For Missa Solemnis

6. Rehearsal Sessions For Missa Solemnis

7. Rehearsal Sessions For Missa Solemnis

8. Rehearsal Sessions For Missa Solemnis

9. Rehearsal Sessions For Missa Solemnis

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential recording

This 1960 recording hails from EMI's golden age under producer Walter Legge. He held all the key cards--soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, tenor Nicolai Gedda, and conductor Herbert von Karajan, all in their prime--and put them together with his London-based orchestra and the Vienna-based choir. Oddly, though, this recording never received its full due, perhaps because the original LP sound quality was rather substandard. This CD remastering is a minor miracle. It's now just as vivid and immediate as one could want from an early stereo recording, and the performance has all the power and inspiration of the young lion with none of the affectations of the more mature Karajan. There's also a good performance of Mozart's Symphony no. 38 ("Prague") plus an interview with Schwarzkopf, in which she confesses to having had vocal fatigue because she was also performing Falstaff at the time. --David Patrick Stearns

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Missa Solemnis, December 1, 2001

By 

Erik D. LOFQUIST (Shoreline, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beethoven: Missa Solemnis (plus rehearsals) / Mozart: Symphony No. 38- Prague (Audio CD)

Few of the large works in classical music have been recorded so often, and with such success, as Beethoven's Missa Solemnis. This makes it extremely difficult to choose a recording, especially if you are going to have just one. Allow me to make a case for this one! First, there is Karajan's emotionally explosive conducting, without his later annoying mannerisms. It is raw (in the best sense), fresh, and visceral, like Beethoven himself. Second, this is the best quartet of soloists ever assembled on a major recording. Schwarzkopf and Ludwig, in particular, are so well matched that it is often hard to tell where one picks up and the other leaves off. Third, there is some sublime solo violin work in the Benedictus by an unnamed soloist, presumably the concertmaster.
The downsides to this recording are minimal. Schwarzkopf is noticeably flat at one point in the Gloria, but divine everywhere else. The sound is a bit more harsh and shallow than more recent recordings, but still impressive by 1959 standards.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Karajan's great "forgotten" performance from 1960, October 8, 2005

By 

Santa Fe Listener (Santa Fe, NM USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Beethoven: Missa Solemnis (plus rehearsals) / Mozart: Symphony No. 38- Prague (Audio CD)

Karajan made a specialty of this great and difficult work, which he recorded no less than five times. I don't believe in duplicating reviews here at Amazon, but I am posting this one under each performance--they range from a live radio broadcast in 1959 from the Salzburg Festival to a digital recording from 1985 in Berlin. In general the sound improves as time goes on, and except for the last recording, the soloists are uniformaly world class.

Since Karajan's readings rank among the best ever made, I'd like to give a brief rundown of each:

1959 Salzburg (EMI): In many ways this is the dream recording. The orchestra is the Vienna Phil, the chorus the Singverein of vienna, Karajan's favorite--they appear in all his recordings. The solo quartet captures Leontyne Price in her prime--her glorious voice is incomparable in this part. Christa Ludwig, Nicolai Gedda, and Nicola Zaccaria join Price in a passionate, involved performance that brings more excitment and commitment than any other. The big downside is the tubby mono sound--you are aware of listening to a gigantic work through your home radio. If you can adjust your ears and listen through the sound, as it were, this was obviously a very great event.

1960 Philharmonia (Testament): This EMI commercial recording came out originally in mono, ltter in muffled stereo. It's been cleaned up by Testament for reissue, but the chorus is sitll fairly murky and distant. Otherwise, this is a very satisfying performance, the second best of the five in my opinion. The solo quartet is makred by actually singing and not shouting, and they blend beautifully, which only makes sense because Schwarzkopf, Ludwig, and Gedda had sung togehter for years on EMI. They would go on to sing a superlative Verdi Requiem under Giulini. The bass again is Nicola Zaccaria, another old hand at EMI but not of the caliber of the other three. Karajan's conducting lacks the fiery intensity of the live Salzburg performance from the year before, but everything is relative. This is still a strong, cimmitted reading in every way.

1966 Berlin (DG): From here to the end all the recordings are with hte Berlin Phil. This recording came out nose to nose with the famed Klemperer set from London (EMI), and on the whole Klemperer is superior, thanks to somewhat clearer sound and an unsurpassed chorus trained by Wilhelm Pitz. Karajan's quartet is once again stelar: Gundula Janowitz, Christa Ludwig, Fritz Wunderlich, and Walter Berry. Wunderlich was the greatest lyric tenor in Germany and sounds wnderful. I don't care for Janowitz'a piping, hooty soprano, which sounds more like a woodwind instrument than a fully expressive voice, but I concede that I am in the minoriyt. The sonics are a bit glaring, and they get ocngested in the massed passages with chorus and orchestra. DG may have improved the sound in the 1996 reissue on a bargain two-fer; I hven't heard it, although there's no doubt this recording is at times uncomfortably shrill.

1975 Berlin (EMI): Karajan has proceeded with at least one new Missa Solemnis per decade. This recording features another stellar quartet, with Janowitz held over from the DG set and sounding excactly the same. She is joined by Peter Schreier, Agnes Baltsa, and Jose Van Dam. All except Schreier were Karajan favorites at the time. They sing very well, even though one hears a noticeable drop from the earlier quartets. The recorded sound here is just as congested in tuttis as on the DG set. In general this performance shows no advances on earlier readings and in my opinion is the most negligible of the five.

1985 Berlin (DG) : For the first time one notices a leap forward in sound quality, thanks to digital multi-miking. From the outset there's more orchestral detail, cleaner separation of voices, and good highlighting of the vocal quartet. The engineers weren't stuck with a single microphone placement, which never could capture chorus, orchestra, and soloists satisfactorily. Unfortunately, when the big tuttis come in the Gloria, the chorus and orchestra become just as congested as before. This is due to Karajan's insistence on using a very large chorus; it always muddies when the music gets very loud. Over the years Karajan didn't drastically change his approach to the Missa Solemnis, and since this 1985 recording has the best sound, one wishes it could be recommended as the best document. It is badly let down, however, by the quartet, consisting of two unknown women--Lella Cuberli and Trudeliese Schmidt--who aren't exactly great discoveries, along with the light-voiced tenor Vinson Cole and a dry, aging Jose Van Dam.

With enough time and space, one could detail hundrds of differences between these performances. In 1985, for example, the Gloria shoots out at rocket speed compared to the other four performances. But this way madness lies. For me it's enough to know that all but the 1985 are great performances, the sound is about even between 1966 and 1975, with 1960 in serviceable stereo, and the live 1959 Salzburg must be counted one of those events that no one will ever forget who was fortunate enough to be present.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Herbert Von Karajan, el músico del siglo!, June 6, 2000

By 

Francisco J. Muñoz (Santa Cruz, Bolivia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beethoven: Missa Solemnis (plus rehearsals) / Mozart: Symphony No. 38- Prague (Audio CD)

Karajan, sin lugar a dudas fue un músico de dotes excepcionales, fue un "milagro".

Él fue el interprete ideal de la música que millones de millones de seres humanos amamos y cuantos más después de nosotros... en los siglos que vendrán.

Sus interpretaciones de la Missa solemnis de Beethoven, es un ejemplo de la extraordinaria maestría que él tenía. Querido amante de la música si usted escucha cualquiera de las interpretaciones de Karajan de la Missa Op. 123 de Beethoven. Está motivo del comentario ó cualquiera de las posteriores la de 1966 con; Gundula Janowitz, Christa Ludwig, Fritz Wunderlich y Walter Berry ó la 1986 con; Lella Cuberli, Trudeliese Schmidt, Viston Cole y José Van Dam, estoy seguro que usted estará de acuerdo conmigo que Karajan fue el interprete ideal de ésta MAGNA OBRA.

Von Karajan, le da toda la profundidad a la obra, con la mejor calidad de sonido que nadie...

Además que éste álbum nos entrega en forma gratuita ensayos del gran Herbert Von Karajan, en esta obra de tanta importancia beethoveniana. Beethoven cuando mandó esta obra a su editor, la llamó mi mejor obra que hubiera compuesto. Después de la Missa, Beethoven solo compondría dos obras del calibre de su gloriosa Missa: LA NOVENA SINFONIA Y EL CUARTETO OPUS. 131.

El tener este disco es una obligación para cualquier karajano ó beethoveniano.

P.D.- De existir cielo seguramente esta es la música que está sonando y nada raro que sea está versión de Karajan!

Francisco J. Muñoz