From the start of this stunningly dramatic and dynamic performance there's a fresh, spacious feel - a real event in a large acoustic space. The Barbican will never sound beautiful, but here it sounds exactly like the well-balanced Radio 3 broadcast it is drawn from. If you know that sound from broadcasts - that is what you get (with better resolution on the CD of course). But there's a palpable sense of live excitement, a great occasion, and at first I felt it was easily superior to the famous 1990 DG Archiv Gramophone Award-winning recording by the same forces (with different soloists). The Monteverdi Choir seems even more cohesive, powerful and virtuosic, a unified choral force where the earlier incarnation is more soloistic, perhaps more Baroque in character - you could almost pick out individual voices within it. The 1990 chorus is slightly cooler tonally too - a little sweeter but less exciting than on this live version. Those big moments - the end of the Gloria ("Goodness!" I said aloud in laughter and tears) and the et vitam venturi (you'll spread your arms wide as it climaxes...) are really overwhelming on the present issue, you may need to wait a while before proceeding further! The ORR itself is clearer, stronger and more colourful in 2012, an equally vivid presence to the chorus, with a splendid cutting edge to the brass; in 1990, more muted, tonally monochrome, a little anonymous. There's greater flexibility to this reading, Gardiner's conducting warmer and more expressive - it's a shade quicker overall (69'58 to 71'39 in 1990) mainly due to an even faster, even more breathtaking Gloria.
But the greater drama and urgency of the live performance is bought at a cost - the soloists do occasionally sound a little raw, an overly pronounced throb in the voices here and there, and they sound less tonally refined than the earlier, outstandingly beautiful quartet who of course had the benefit of studio conditions, time to correct and retake. Having said that, they are naturally placed in the Barbican soundstage, never too close, and I didn't find it hampering my involvement in the piece very much, even where they are more exposed at the start of the Sanctus and Agnus Dei. In these passages - the Sanctus especially - I felt an even greater sense of spiritual depth in the playing and conducting (especially lovely violin solo) and the contrast with the stunning speed and brilliance of the chorus in the hosanna, or in the pastoral warmth and lyricism (and those in tempore belli eruptions!) of the Dona Nobis, seemed to go beyond the earlier performance which - within the cool and spacious acoustic of All Saints Tooting - could seem just a little straitlaced by comparison - very much a recording, rather than an event.
Anyone who loves the Missa Solemnis- and I do, passionately - should hear this one; and even if you have Gardiner's earlier version you must hear this too. Despite those reservations about the solo quartet, if I had to choose I would keep the SDG; but if you usually admire Gardiners's interpretative approach you will need both. The beauty, control, and the outstanding soloists of the DG Archiv disc are counterbalanced by the warmth, expressiveness and sheer impact of this new live version.
But the greater drama and urgency of the live performance is bought at a cost - the soloists do occasionally sound a little raw, an overly pronounced throb in the voices here and there, and they sound less tonally refined than the earlier, outstandingly beautiful quartet who of course had the benefit of studio conditions, time to correct and retake. Having said that, they are naturally placed in the Barbican soundstage, never too close, and I didn't find it hampering my involvement in the piece very much, even where they are more exposed at the start of the Sanctus and Agnus Dei. In these passages - the Sanctus especially - I felt an even greater sense of spiritual depth in the playing and conducting (especially lovely violin solo) and the contrast with the stunning speed and brilliance of the chorus in the hosanna, or in the pastoral warmth and lyricism (and those in tempore belli eruptions!) of the Dona Nobis, seemed to go beyond the earlier performance which - within the cool and spacious acoustic of All Saints Tooting - could seem just a little straitlaced by comparison - very much a recording, rather than an event.
Anyone who loves the Missa Solemnis- and I do, passionately - should hear this one; and even if you have Gardiner's earlier version you must hear this too. Despite those reservations about the solo quartet, if I had to choose I would keep the SDG; but if you usually admire Gardiners's interpretative approach you will need both. The beauty, control, and the outstanding soloists of the DG Archiv disc are counterbalanced by the warmth, expressiveness and sheer impact of this new live version.
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