Mass for soloists, chorus & orchestra in C major, Op. 86
Fidelio, opera, Op. 72: Prisoners' Chorus ('O welche Lust')
It's not clear exactly what the "live" component is in this disc from the London Symphony Orchestra's LSO Live series. The Beethoven Mass in C major, Op. 86, and the "Prisoners' Chorus" from Fidelio are specified as having been recorded live on two different occasions at London's Barbican concert hall, but if there was an audience any traces of its existence have been very carefully edited out. The performance, however, has the positive tension associated with a successful live performance, as well as the occasional flaws. ...
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It's not clear exactly what the "live" component is in this disc from the London Symphony Orchestra's LSO Live series. The Beethoven Mass in C major, Op. 86, and the "Prisoners' Chorus" from Fidelio are specified as having been recorded live on two different occasions at London's Barbican concert hall, but if there was an audience any traces of its existence have been very carefully edited out. The performance, however, has the positive tension associated with a successful live performance, as well as the occasional flaws. Colin Davis, nearly 80 when the recording was made, turns in a fine interpretation of the work that was called "unbearably ridiculous and detestable" by Prince Nikolaus Esterházy II, patron of the aged Haydn and the commissioner, as well as of his six late masses. A good performance of the mass will get at why the prince didn't like it: it fits the model of the late Haydn masses, but, at every point where Haydn went for confident, crowd-pleasing moves, it takes on an interior...
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