Beethoven: Missa Solemnis Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		4.0

Beethoven: Missa Solemnis Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 1, 2013

Classical musical aficionados often lump together the three “great B”’s of German music, namely Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms, as if they were an indistinguishable lump of content. But of course, nothing could be further from the truth. Even looking at the kinds of music these three titans composed is an object lesson in their differences. Bach’s compositional world often revolved around liturgical duties, and so this grand master has an unusually large number of religious opuses to his credit, including some of the greatest masses ever written. By contrast, Beethoven and Brahms approached this vaunted genre relatively seldom. Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis isn’t formally a requiem mass, like, for example, Brahms’ iconic A German Requiem, but, as I noted in my Beethoven: Missa Solemnis Blu-ray review of the Christian Thielemann version, the air of sobriety in this piece often seems elegiac.

Nikolaus Harnoncourt and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra offer a resplendent accounting of Beethoven’s immortal score. It’s perhaps a bit more reserved and staid than the Thielemann version, but it contains arguably better choral work and also offers some lustrous solos from Marlis Petersen, Elisabeth Kulman, Werner Gura and Gerald Finley. Harnoncourt nicely traces the architecture of the piece while delivering some spectacular climaxes along the way. The RCO plays with its typical splendor, with the really incredible brass section sounding especially luscious in this performance.

Beethoven: Missa Solemnis Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Missa Solemnis is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Unitel Classica and C Major with an AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 1.78:1. This is generally a very sharp and nice looking high definition presentation, though it rarely pops with the vividness that some of the best concert fare does. Part of this is due to the overall dark apparel the orchestra, chorus and soloists wear, but there's just a slightly pallid look to even the flesh tones in this offering. Though this is an interlaced presentation, the good news is there are no egregiously noticeable combing artifacts, even when the camera closes in on Harnoncourt's baton or some of the rapid bowing of the string section.

Beethoven: Missa Solemnis Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Missa Solemnis features a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.0 surround mix and an LPCM 2.0 stereo fold down, both in the original Latin, with a variety of subtitles (including Latin itself) available. The Thielemann performance offered a 5.1 mix, and there is a noticeable, if surprisingly slight, paucity of low end on this Harnoncourt version by comparison. Otherwise, though, this is a sterling effort that offers excellent clarity and some very nicely nuanced balance between the orchestra, chorus and soloists. The RCO sounds spectacular throughout this performance and the DTS-HD Master Audio mix delivers some nicely natural sounding ambience that splays the orchestral forces rather neatly across the soundfield.

Beethoven: Missa Solemnis Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

No supplements other than trailers for other Opus Arte releases are offered on this Blu-ray disc.

Beethoven: Missa Solemnis Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

This Missa Solemnis may not have the relatively more adventurous spirit of the Thielemann rendering, but it's still hugely enjoyable. Harnoncourt delivers a solid, often moving, performance that shows off the RCO in excellent light, and which also features some superior vocalizing by the Netherlands Radio Choir and some stellar soloists. Recommended.