Credits:

Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt, NDR Symphony Orchestra

Description:

Isserstedt’s hard-hitting performance of Beethoven’s late great work. A brilliant masterpiece in the history of “Missa Solemnis” recordings of the past and present has been revived! A newly remastered reissue of the Tarra label’s masterpiece. This is a live recording of “Missa Solemnis” featuring Schreier and other famous singers. Isserstedt’s hard-edged beauty is fully demonstrated in this masterful performance of Beethoven’s great work, in which huge voices and orchestra swell and pile up with precision and vigor. The music was precise, splendidly resonant, and impeccably crafted. This is a performance by a master musician who embodies the German tradition. The gentle but unwavering transition from dark to light in the “Agnus Dei” is particularly wonderful, and the last movement, in which the various spiritual currents converge into one and reach the heavenl