missa solemnis and crumbly sound

[gradus]

Just playing the original LP recording and it is affected by some tracing and end of side distortion in the loudest passages but even so, I agree that the CD transfer is inferior and should be re-mastered.
Klemperer and his forces remain my favourite recording not least for the singing of the New Philharmonia Chorus; I have never heard anything to equal them, for example in the astonishing final pages of the Gloria.
Worth remembering that EMI gave this performance the start treatment when it was issued going so far as to hire the Wigmore Hall (I think) for the producer and others to introduce and play excerpts from the recording, something Decca had already done with its Solti Mahler 2 and latterly with the Ring recordings and others.
I found a little typed slip in the copy of the set booklet given to members of the audience:
'DID YOU KNOW
EMI records present classical record previews featuring each month'snew releases at EMI House on theb last and first Thursdays of the month at 6.30pm.
Please write to: Miss K Mc Swiney, EMI Records, 20 Manchester Square, W.1'
I never went myself, did any other boarder?

[MickyD]

Thanks, Bryn, for the cover photo, which brings back mild nostalgia! I know they weren't 100% "authentic", but I liked a lot of what Collegium Aureum did for DHM...I heard my first J.C. Bach symphonies thanks to their recordings and thought them very fine.

[Chris Newman]

For modern sound I listen to David Zinman on the super-bargain Arte Nova label. As to be expected a very fine performance from his Zurich forces.

For something extra special but with with poorer sound I listen to Horenstein and Giulini:

The Horenstein has the magnificent line-up of Teresa Stich-Randall, Norma Procter, Richard Lewis (replacing an indisposed Peter Pears) and Kim Borg. Recorded in 1961 at the BBC Maida Vale studio the bulk of the work is done by the BBC Chorus (as the BBCSC was then) and the BBCSO. It is on the sadly defunct BBC Legends label, but shop around. The experience is overwhelming...

...as so too is Carlo Maria Giulini with the New Philharmonia Chorus and the LPO on EMI from 1975. Following performances at St Paul's Cathedral they moved to Kingsway Hall and as with the famous EMI Verdi Requiem Giulini achieves magnificence. Again, excellent soloists: Heather Harper, Janet Baker, Robert Tear and Hans Sotin.

Both sets have generous stocking fillers: Horenstein gives us Schubert's Unfinished and Wagner's A Faust Overture, whilst Giulini provides Beethoven's Mass in C Major.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

No-one has mentioned the VPO/Bohm version - a really ravishing violin soso in the Benedictus.

[BeethovensQuill]

Im not overly keen on the Bohm version i find it far too slow.

[EnemyoftheStoat]

Hi Chris,

The Maida Vale recording of 1961 actually features the now BBC Singers (probably expanded). The key to identifying BBCSC recordings is the following guide to dates and names:
National Chorus 1928–32; BBC Chorus 1932–35; BBC Choral Society 1935–77; BBC Symphony Chorus 1977–date. It cuts both ways of course, as certain BBC Chorus recordings of the said era wouldn't be in one's recommended list!

Cheers,

EotS

[makropulos]

Likewise, MickyD. I'm not sure whether or not it was one of the recordings which survived the house fiire which destroyed the majority of my favourite LPs and tapes back in the late '80s. No time to check the LPs stored in the loft at the moment, but I will have a lok in a day or so. In th4e meantime, here are a few more details:

Sylvia Geszty, Doris Soffel, David Rendall, Kurt Widmer, Suddeutscher Madrigalchor, Collegium Aureum, Wolfgang Gonnenwein.



.

TH's Gramophone review is quite a laugh. Not his finest hour's work

I got my set in a sale at the old Gramophone Exchange, then in Soho Square.

Bryn - thanks for that link which has given me a very good laugh. I've always had a sort of ghoulish fascination with TH's rantings and the Missa Solemnis is a classic of the grumpy old so-and-so at his most pig-headed.