Missa Solemnis

Ludwig van Beethoven

New Philharmonia Chorus and Orchestra (Otto Kelmperer, cond.)

album cover

A Massive Mass

Beethoven gave future interpreters a set of massive challenges with the Missa solemnis. It’s been called the greatest unperformable masterpiece, and with good reason.

Read all about this recording in the book 1,000 Recordings To Hear Before You Die.

Genre: Classical
Released: 1966, EMI (Reissued 2001)
Catalog Choice: Mass in C, Elegaic Song, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus (Robert Shaw, cond.)
Next Stop: Giuseppe Verdi: Requiem, Leontyne Price, Jossi Björling, Vienna Philharmonic and Chorus (Fritz Reiner, cond.)
After That: Richard Strauss: Four Las Songs, Jessye Norman, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra (Kurt Masur, cond.)

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About 1,000 Recordings

Celebrate the joy, the revelation, the mystery, the fun, the sheer shivers-up-the-spine pleasure of great music.

Essential operas. Milestone rock albums. An education in the blues. The world of world. Classical from Bach to Bartók to Beethoven to Brahms. And dozens of unexpected gems, surprising discoveries, and long-lost masterpieces.

This is an online version of the list (published alphabetically in the book). The entries in the book break down genre bias and broaden every listener’s horizons—think Miles Davis to Claude Debussy to the melodic story-songs of The Decemberists. And the writing is passionate, informed, opinionated.

More about the book

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