Sir John Eliot Gardiner

Programme

Ludwig van Beethoven
Missa solemnis in D major, op. 123

Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Conductor

Lucy Crowe, Soprano

Gerhild Romberger, Alto

Julian Prégardien, Tenor

Tareq Nazmi, Bass

Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks

Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks

about the programme

“From the heart, may it again go to the heart.” Thus Beethoven wrote at the head of the Kyrie in his Missa solemnis. Shortly before completing the work he called it the greatest he had ever written. This monumental yet enigmatic masterpiece of sacred music is less a strictly liturgical composition than a vehicle for kindling authentic religious feelings in the listeners. His Mass thus bespeaks a thoroughly Enlightenment view of religion; it also reveals a sense of drama, as when the final plea for peace, “Dona nobis pacem”, is preceded by vivid scenes of war. In John Eliot Gardiner a conductor steps up to the BRSO rostrum who has often plunged into the gigantic cosmos of the Missa solemnis in concerts and recordings, probing the field of tension between faith and emotionalism that goes directly to the heart.

Image gallery

Sir John Eliot Gardiner

Lucy Crowe (Soprano) Gerhild Romberger (Mezzosoprano) Julian Prégardien (Tenor) Tareq Nazmi (Bass)

Backstage Basilika Ottobeuren

Radoslaw Szulc (Concertmaster 1st violin)

Sir John Eliot Gardiner

Gerhild Romberger (Mezzosoprano) Julian Prégardien (Tenor) Tareq Nazmi (Bass)