Beethoven: Missa solemnis in D major, Op. 123

Krassimira Stoyanova; Elina Garanca; Michael Schade; Franz-Joseph Selig
Dresden State Opera Chorus & Staatskapelle Dresden
Conductor: Christian Thielemann

C Major Entertainment Blu-ray Video 705408 [98 mins]

Semperoper, Dresden, Germany
Live recording February 2010

The Missa Solemnis is far less often to be heard than the other masterworks of Beethoven's last period. It needs a special occasion, and the annual memorial on the anniversary of the destruction of Dresden in WW2 is as appropriate a one as can be conceived.

The Semperoper has been rebuilt and serves now as the opera house of the Saxon State Opera Dresden and the concert hall of the Saxon State Orchestra Dresden.

This is a television film of a dedicated performance, given without applause and with a minute's silence at the end. Thielmann is a surprisingly undemonstrative conductor. It all looks and sounds well, but some of the close-ups contradict the sound picture. There are no extras.

Peter Grahame Woolf