[SACD-R][OF] Beethoven – Missa solemnis, Op.123 (Otto Klemperer, New Philharmonia Chorus & Orchestra) - 1966/2012 (Classical/Orchestral/Choral)

Few musical works express man’s metaphysical aspirations more powerfully than Beethoven’s titanic Missa Solemnis. As Otto Klemperer wrote some years before making this recording: “It is enormously difficult to translate into reality a work which doesn’t take reality into account.” He had first conducted the Missa Solemnis in 1927 and it came to define the epic grandeur of his interpretative style.
AllMusic:
With no slight intended to the other great recordings of the Missa Solemnis in the world, there’s this one and then there are all the rest. Truly. Even with the 1940 Toscanini and the 1974 Böhm, this 1965 recording of Otto Klemperer and the Philharmonia Orchestra and Chorus embodies everything that’s great about the Missa Solemnis. And everything that’s great about late Beethoven is in the Missa Solemnis: the energy, the nobility, the strength, the vision, and — above all — the overwhelming sense that the numinous is imminent. Beethoven thought it was his best work and who could not agree? That’s what’s in Klemperer’s performance. His command of the score and control of the orchestra are complete, but it is Klemperer’s ability to take the musicians beyond themselves, to go beyond making music to be made music, and to incarnate Beethoven’s transcendent revelation in sound that puts this recording in a class of its own. Or rather, that puts it in the same exalted class as Klemperer’s German Requiem and St. Matthew Passion, the class of the sublime. EMI’s stereo sound was magnificent in its day and its remastering is ideal.
Musicweb review:
Amazon customer:
EMI’s choice of recordings for their GROC series sometimes raises the odd eyebrow, but there can be little doubt about the inclusion of this one. Klemperer, recovered from the travails of the previous decade, was in incandescent form despite his advanced age and partial paralysis. So many reviewers have adumbrated the virtues of this noble, majestic account that I won’t rehearse them here but will make a few, brief observations. It’s not perfect: the fugue concluding the “Quoniam” section of the “Gloria” lumbers somewhat; the soloists are not as starry as Karajan’s or Bernstein’s; the sound, while good for its age, is inevitably a bit congested – but these are minor cavils set against the transcendence of Klemperer’s vision.
In an ideal world, Marga Hoeffgen would be less matronly, although she manages much magnificently; Kmentt would be able to muster more heft and steadiness for the “et homo factus est”, Talvela would blend better with his co-singers. However, Soederstroem’s soprano is a joy, soaring effortlessly in a manner which almost rivals the peerless Janowitz for Karajan. The greatest glory of this set, apart from Klemperer’s direction, is the bite and energy of the New Philharmonia Chorus, expertly drilled by Wilhelm Pitz, and the unaffected mastery of the violin solo in the Benedictus, which goes straight to the heart without being quite as soupy as Karajan’s Schwalbe.
It’s not the only version of this work to have; Giulini, Bernstein and Karajan also have their story to tell – but it is enough to convert any waverer to the Klemperer school.