Beethoven: Missa solemnis, Op. 123 (Live) MDR Rundfunkchor, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin & Marek Janowski

• Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827):
• 1 I. Kyrie (Live) 09:22
• 2 II. Gloria (Live) 15:41
• 3 III. Credo (Live) 16:59
• 4 IV. Sanctus - Benedictus (Live) 15:26
• 5 V. Agnus Dei (Live) 15:32
• Total Runtime 01:13:00

Info for Beethoven: Missa solemnis, Op. 123 (Live)

The conductor Marek Janowski and the Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin continue their critically acclaimed collaboration with PENTATONE in a magnificent reading of Beethoven’s monumental Missa Solemnis, recorded live at the Berlin Philharmonie in September 2016 in partnership with Deutschlandradio Kultur.

Considered by many to be his finest work, with the Missa Solemnis Beethoven updated the choral traditions of Handel and Bach with his own ineffable style to create a startlingly original and dramatic large scale work. By turns intimate and deeply moving, it’s also one of his most forward-looking works. With consummate skill, Beethoven marshals the disparate elements of liturgical, secular and operatic expression in a wholly original and compelling way. From the jubilant Gloria with its ecstatic outbursts, to the radiant Benedictus with its soaring, ethereal solo violin, it’s a riveting experience. And Beethoven constantly surprises throughout, especially in the closing Agnus Dei where the serenity is shattered by a terrifying militaristic outburst, eventually subsiding for a radiant conclusion.

Marek Janowski is no stranger to the PENTATONE catalogue; his recordings with the Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin of the ten mature operas of Wagner were universally praised for setting new musical standards. The BBC Music Magazine described the Tannhäuser release as “…the best recording since that made in Bayreuth in 1962”. Also recorded in the superb acoustics of Berliner Philharmonie, the Parsifal release was praised by the critic Michael Tanner who wrote that the sound was “…so realistic as to be almost alarming.”

Regine Hangler, soprano
Elisabeth Kulman, alto
Christian Elsner, tenor
Franz-Josef Selig, bass
MDR-Rundfunkchor Leipzig & Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester
Marek Janowski, conductor

Marek Janowski
From 2002 until 2015, Marek Janowski was artistic director and chief conductor of the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin (RSB). Before embarking upon his Berlin period, and also partly parallel to this, he was musical director of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande (2005-2012), chief conductor of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo (2000-2005), chief conductor of the Dresdner Philharmonie (2001-2003), and musical director of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France (1984- 2000).

Marek Janowski’s consistent demands for orchestral precision and his precise knowledge of the score go hand in hand with his ingenious ideas for programmes, making him one of the most renowned orchestral conductors of our time. Wherever he is invited to conduct, be it in the United States at the San Francisco Symphony and the Cleveland Orchestra, in Asia with the NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo, or in Europe with the Orchestre de Paris and the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich among others, he enjoys extraordinary prestige thanks to the effciency of his work.

Marek Janowski was born in Warsaw in 1939, but grew up and was educated in Germany. He has accepted positions as general music director in Aachen, Cologne, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Freiburg im Breisgau, and Dortmund. Since the late 1970s, he has appeared regularly at all the major opera-houses world-wide, including the Metropolitan Opera New York, Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, San Francisco, Hamburg, Vienna, and Paris.

Since the late 1990s, he has focused exclusively on the concert circuit, and has followed on in the great tradition of German conductors as an outstanding Beethoven, Schumann, Brahms, Bruckner, and Strauss interpreter: however, he is also considered an expert in the French repertoire. His leave- taking of the opera, however, was merely an institutional matter, not a musical farewell. Now more than ever, he is ranked among the most knowledgeable experts on the works of Richard Wagner, which he has demonstrated in the concertante Wagner cycle with the RSB (2010-2013).

Marek Janowski was awarded the “Ehrenpreis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik” (= honorary prize of the German Critics’ Award) for his extensive life’s work.

MDR Rundfunkchor
Whenever major orchestras in Germany or abroad plan to perform a choral work it is invariably the MDR LEIPZIG RADIO CHOIR, regarded as one of the best in the world, that comes at the top of their wish list. The ensemble lives up to this reputation not only as an excellent partner for major orchestras in choral symphonic works, but also with its highly acclaimed and unusual a cappella performances. A wide-ranging repertoire encompasses practically a thousand years of musical history and has included numerous world premieres. Whether via the European Broadcasting Union, through touring, in guest performances worldwide or with its nearly 200 LPs and CDs – many of them award-winning – , the MDR LEIPZIG RADIO CHOIR, which received the European Cultural Prize in 2013, acts as a supreme musical ambassador for central Germany. From the season 2015/2016 Risto Joost succeeds Howard Arman as artistic director of the MDR LEIPZIG RADIO CHOIR, while Philipp Ahmann remains principal guest conductor.

Booklet for Beethoven: Missa solemnis, Op. 123 (Live)