Freiburger Barockorchester, RIAS Kammerchor & René Jacobs - Beethoven: Missa solemnis, Op. 123 (2021)

Conductor René Jacobs' turn to Beethoven has yielded impressive results by going back to Beethoven's works and rethinking them from the ground up. His revival of the opera Leonore, Hess 109, the original 1805 version of Fidelio, Op. 72, made a strong case for that little-performed version. Even better, perhaps, is this 2021 reading of the Missa Solemnis, Op. 123, a notoriously difficult work to interpret. It does not lie easily in the voice ranges of the singers; its mood shifts gears seemingly out of nowhere, and it ends on a seemingly uncertain note. Yet, in no way can the mass be considered a minor Beethoven work. The composer struggled with it for years, missing deadlines and returning to the mass text for fresh study. The work is a personal religious statement from a composer who has variously been called an atheist (by Haydn), an agnostic, or a freethinker. Jacobs treats the mass as a kind of passion play, bringing out the currents of thought in the music with strong contrasts and giving an uncanny sense of Beethoven's own responses to the text. Listen to the Incarnatus, where Jacobs catches the composer's relative lack of interest in the Incarnation as compared with the Crucifixion. Listeners are directed toward the interview-style booklet notes in which Jacobs expands on his ideas; his interpretation of the odd Agnus Dei finale is highly persuasive. In general, the music draws the listener in as if witnessing a spiritual journey. The performances are very strong; there is no hint of Baroque mechanistic quality in the work of the historical-instrument Freiburg Barockorchester, and the soloists handle the vocal challenges as well as any have. This is a Missa Solemnis that yields new insights with each hearing, and it is one that will be heard for many years to come. © TiVo