Sunday 4 September 2011

Prom 67 Beethoven Missa Solemnis Davis LSO

So stunned by Prom 67, Beethoven Missa Solemnis, Colin Davis/LSO, that I'm staying up late to hear it again on TV details here). Gosh,  this needs to be savoured !  This afternoon, I was listening again to the repeat of Prom 63, Mahler and Liszt, Ivan Fischer Budapest Festival Orchestra and liked that even more. (See my review "Trumpets and Demons" HERE and follow this link for repeat broadcast)

What characterizes both performances (Beethoven and Mahler) is intellectual rigour. Absolute faith in the music, total integrity. Edward Said said of Beethoven's late work, that old men don't need to sell themselves to please the public. Ergo, late work can free an artist from banal pressures. Maturity without compromise. This Prom won't knock Klemperer off the perch for me, but I was totally impressed by Davis's unfussy sense of conviction. 

Performances like these need to be engaged with on a deep level. So I'm not going to reel off something shallow. So read this review of Prom 67 Beethoven Missa Solemnis, just in, from Mark Berry in Boulezian. Now this is good writing and perceptive !

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