Prom 67: Sunday 4th September at 7.00 p.m. (Beethoven's Missa Solemnis)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

In the last of this season's Choral Sundays, Sir Colin Davis tackles the largest and longest of Beethoven's non-stage works, the Missa Solemnis. This monumental work seems to skirt the boundaries of whether it is music made for the concert hall or the church. "My chief aim was to awaken and permanently instill religious feelings not only into the singers but also into the listeners," Beethoven himself wrote of the work.

The London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, and London Philharmonic Choir lead the huge forces in what Beethoven considered to be his supreme achievement in music.

The quartet of soloists, made up of soprano Carmen Giannattasio, mezzo Sarah Connolly, tenor Paul Groves, and bass Matthew Rose, have demanding roles in this work, where the orchestra, chorus, and quartet each take on changing and challenging musical roles.

Beethoven: Missa Solemnis

Carmen Giannattasio (soprano)
Sarah Connolly (mezzo-soprano)
Paul Groves (tenor)
Matthew Rose (bass)
London Philharmonic Choir
London Symphony Chorus
London Symphony Orchestra
Sir Colin Davis (conductor)

[moeranbiogman]

Quote from the Radio Times 3-9th September SUNDAY 'Choices':
....Gareth Malone describes Beethoven's Missa Solemnis as a 'notorious challenge for even the most advanced choirs. Many amateur choirs might be in danger of blowing a gasket'. Fortunate, then, that the BBC Symphony Chorus
and Orchestra are in the building, under the aegis of conductor Colin Davis......

Both the London Symphony Chorus and London Philharmonic Choir must be feeling pretty jaded, not to mention the LSO.
Mr Patrick Mulkern should get his facts right if he has been given the job of previewing this Prom.

[EnemyoftheStoat]

If a google search didn't reveal Mr Mulkern's fine credentials as a Proms previewer - he has a number of Dr Who articles to his name - one might suspect he was an alias for a project involving monkeys and typewriters.

Seriously, if anybody has a right to feel jaded, it's the BBC Symphony Chorus: there's a Missa Solemnis in the building, and instead they get the eternal LvB9...

[Petrushka]

Would very much liked to have been there tonight as the Missa Solemnis is one of those works that has a special meaning for me.

Previous memorable Proms performances I attended were Solti in 1982 and Haitink in 1998. Both were broadcast live on TV and while I have the latter I am desperate to get hold of the 1982 Solti. Does anyone possess a copy on DVD or of the radio transmission on CD?

[Prommer]

Sir Colin is a legend...I too wish I were there but was at a rather lively 40th birthday party last night. However, to watch and listen on a pre-autumnal evening to this piece live (properly live) from the Proms and with CD conducting is very heaven. He is being relaxed in his cues to the choir but why not, he and they know the piece. He is fortunately not in Klemperer type health though now conducting seated.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

This is stunning stuff. What a great Beethoven conductor Sir Colin is.

[BudgieJane]

I wish I were there also, but unfortunately I began coughing and sneezing yesterday, and I am resting up ready for tomorrow. Even if I wind the volume up at home, it's not as good as being there.

[Anna]

Jane, you've morphed into Budgie Girl!! That's rather sweet.

Did anyone attempt to listen to listen on FM? It was atrocious, I quickly switched to BBC4 broadcast, but was it just here the FM broadcast seemed to cut out entirely for a few seconds?

[roger]

Just got home. The hall was packed, sardine like in the arena. Haven't heard much Beethoven for 20 years, and not this work at all.Wild Gloria, and just got past Credo when I got a text from my sister saying she'd come off he bike, landed on her face and was in hospital. I lost concentration after that. Have to go again next time.

[Tony Halstead]

Slow, dogged tempos;
Choir often a bit 'flat at the top'.
Very vibrato-laden, wobbly soloists ( including the solo violinist, LSO leader)
Q. What was 'any good' about this performance?
A. Some of the instrumental details; ( superb trombones and horns) plus the occasional bit of well-together' choral singing.

Frequently, though, a 'painful listen' ( mostly due to the vocal soloists' wobbliness!)
Marks 'out of ten': 4

[Nick Armstrong]

Slow, dogged tempos;
Choir often a bit 'flat at the top'.
Very vibrato-laden, wobbly soloists ( including the solo violinist, LSO leader)
Q. What was 'any good' about this performance?
A. Some of the instrumental details; ( superb trombones and horns) plus the occasional bit of well-together' choral singing.

Frequently, though, a 'painful listen' ( mostly due to the vocal soloists' wobbliness!)
Marks 'out of ten': 4

I tuned into BBC4 briefly - I couldn't take the solo line-up either. Enjoyed the trombone trio. But I quickly tuned out and cancelled the timer recording I'd set for the early hours repeat... Not great.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Well I thought it was wonderful. However, I do have some sympathy with the comments about the soloists, but I think that was a case of too-close microphone placement. I suspect it sounded fine in the RAH.

"Slow dogged tempos". It's a mass, not a ballet.

[Dave2002]

What was this all about?

Well I thought it was wonderful. However, I do have some sympathy with the comments about the soloists, but I think that was a case of too-close microphone placement. I suspect it sounded fine in the RAH.

"Slow dogged tempos". It's a mass, not a ballet.

I thought it was pretty impressive in the hall, but I have to confess I don't really understand what it's about, or why Beethoven wrote it. Is there any evidence that Beethoven was religious in any conventional sense? It seems there is some, and he was at least notionally a Catholic for most of his life. I was going to suggest that what we know about Beethoven's character seems at odds with any conventional observance of religion, but now I'm not sure.

[PhilipT]

I was in the Hall, third row of the Arena. To me it was a Prom of two halves - everything taut and together to the end of the Gloria, with the chorus really knowing what they had to do, and I was beginning to think it might turn out to be a highlight of the season, but it seemed to lose that tension and coherence during the Credo. Also, I wondered how much opportunity the replacement soprano had had to rehearse with the other soloists.

[jayne lee wilson]

Hello everyone, did you miss me?
Thought not. Oh, don't worry, I'm used to it.
Not much promming recently... 89-year old mother to care for (sergeant in armaments factory supplying Battle of Britain Spitfires), business to run from home... etc...

Relevance? Well Dave2002, you're asking the right questions!

Was Beethoven juxtaposing the human with the Godly - well, the human with the concept of something "beyond"?

The violin solo in the Benedictus may represent our need for feeling - for meaning, warm and familiar in the context of formal structures of belief; and what about the "human, all too human" incarnatus and crucifixus, the bloody flesh, following the triumphant affirmation of the Gloria?
Is it asking more questions than it can possibly answer, that makes the work great?

Dona nobis pacem!!!
This text has never been set to such aggressive, questioning music - and seems terribly, horribly relevant now, relevant to the Palestinian-supporting protesters in the hall last Thursday, aggressively demanding recognition for their desire for peace...

Performance? Accept it on its own, grand, long-breathed, terms... whatever its local imperfections it was a great statement.
Technically? Very close setting of soloists at the start, improved in stereo perspectives later, otherwise OK, clear, dynamic chorus and well-balanced orchestra.

I thought it was pretty impressive in the hall, but I have to confess I don't really understand what it's about, or why Beethoven wrote it. Is there any evidence that Beethoven was religious in any conventional sense? It seems there is some, and he was at least notionally a Catholic for most of his life. I was going to suggest that what we know about Beethoven's character seems at odds with any conventional observance of religion, but now I'm not sure.