Beethoven: Missa Solemnis / Bernstein , Royal Edit

Leonard Bernstein - Conductor, Eileen Farrall - Soprano, Carol Smith - Contralto, Richard Lewis - Tenor, Kim Borg - Bass, Westminster Choir, New york Philharmonic, Lucia Popp - Soprano, Rosalind Elias - Mezzo-soprano, Robert Tear - Tenor, Paul Hudson - Baritone, London Sympony Chorus, London Symphony Orchestra,

Beethoven: Missa Solemnis, Choral Fantasy
Haydn: 'Theresia' Mass

2-CD set. Out fo print and very rare. Part of the Royal Edition, Vol.11.
As long as there is sunshine in the world, this Choral Fantasy from Bernstein and Serkin will survive. The work was a Serkin specialty; he loved it enough to make any performance a great event, and he never missed a season at the Marlboro Festival without presenting it as the summer's finale. Bernstein condcuts in the same spirit of exuberant joy. Five stars.
If only Bernstein's excellent 1960 Missa Solemnis rose as high. In musical terms it's almost there. Bernstein announces his intentions from the first bar. This is dynamic, thursting Beethoven without cathedral reverence. You are reminded throughout of the Ninth Sym., and as an itnerpretation Bernstein's is faster than either Klemperer or Karajan, his two chief competitors among major condcutors. However, his rivals boast better sound, soloists, and chorus.
Even in this credible remastering, the sonics are mediocre, wihtout presence or depth. Events seem to occur at a remove despite Bernstein's energy. The soloists look excellent on paper: Eileen Farrell, Richard Lewis, and Kim Borg are notable artists, and only the alto, Carol Smith, is an unknown. But they don't come together as an ensemble, and Bernstein, never one to be very interested in vocal soloists, hasn't melded them the way Klemperer and Karajan do. The women also sound too far from the microphone. Finally, the Westminster Choir, which was the best chorus in NY at the time, sounds disciplined and vigorous but no match for the world-class London and Vienna choruses on the rival sets. They tend to sound stiff, and the sopranos shriek through Beethoven's fiendishly high writing.
If you can listen through the flaws, this is an outstanding Missa Solemnis, but one can't pretend the flaws aren't there. Four stars.
Sony has generously thrown in a choral masterpiece by Haydn, the Theresa Mass, which belongs to a series of masses the composer wrote near the end of his career. All of them are great, but the Nelson Mass and the Mass in Time of War are better known than this one. Bernstein made excellent versions of all three. This 1979 recording from London features better sound, chorus, and soloists (including Lucia Popp and Robert Tear) than the Beethoven--it's very fine in every way and elevates the Theresa Mass to the exalted level it deserves. Five stars.