There's not a whole lot to say here for many reasons... but I will say I'm fascinated by the fact that this contains so many powerful aspects of Beethoven's writing into one piece - the abstract and powerful, the melodic spring day, the dark, the hope - and then just like Schubert and Goethe, Beethoven takes Schiller's Ode to Joy and makes it beautiful to music. It's vocal performance is not really anything I've heard to be matched - even if I just said the style is present before... but it's perfected. There's even the slightly silly Austrian dance for freedom and why not given it's message of love and brotherly benevolence. It's what I love most about art - the mirror of humanity/catharsis/beauty/truth.
You're right; not much else left to be said regarding this one.... so why even try?
That said, you said it well and clearly in your own way. Nicely said.
Well thank you. I'm totally out of my league when it comes to commentary - feel basically everyone else does it better (your jazz write ups are fantastic), so felt a little embarrassed to write anything about possibly the greatest work of music ever.
Also I think AfterHours turned me on to that Beethoven recording via YouTube... if you haven't had a chance check it (although I vaguely remember his having chinese characters in the name and that one doesn't... still 99% sure it's the same incredible performance).
Bold = Newly added to the list this week
Bold + Italics = Was already on the list but changed positions this week
GREATEST CLASSICAL MUSIC WORKS OF ALL TIME (In-Progress)
9.8/10
1. Symphony No. 9 in D Minor "Choral" - Ludwig van Beethoven (1824)
9.7/10
2. Symphony No. 9 in D Major - Gustav Mahler (1910)
9.5/10
3. Mass in B Minor - Johann Sebastian Bach (1749)
4. Tristan und Isolde - Richard Wagner (1859)
9.3/10
5. Symphony No. 9 in C Major "The Great" - Franz Schubert (1826)
6. Requiem - Guisseppe Verdi (1874)
9.2/10
7. Don Giovanni - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1787)
8. Symphony No. 15 in A Major - Dmitri Shostakovich (1971)
9.0/10
9. Elektra - Richard Strauss (1909)[/b][/i]
10. Glagolitic Mass - Leos Janacek (1926)
11. Messiah - George Frideric Handel (1741)
12. St. Matthew Passion - Johann Sebastian Bach (1727)
13. Missa Solemnis – Ludwig van Beethoven (1823)
Okay, so not quite
And, admittedly it is probably a little higher than it may be when I revisit Opera much more extensively and upon rating works such as Wagner's Ring, Verdi's Aida, Berg's Lulu, and perhaps some others that might also rank above Missa Solemnis. But regardless, I definitely agree that it is among the pinnacles of not just vocal works/masses, but music as a whole. _________________ Best Classical Best Films Best Paintings
A to the men - glad you agree. Also what's your take on Missa Solemnis' vocal arrangements at least being stylistically similar and if you've had a chance Theresienmesse from Haydn.
And yes it's probably unfair of me but my brain saw it at 13 and didn't think it's the pinnacle, but I wasn't taking context into play. When you see what you have ranked before it and then know there's thousands of works beneath it... yeah...
I guess all I was saying is I was quite blown away with it and expect everyone to have it at 13... but they don't... and there's reasons behind that I think we all know/understand already.
Era: Classical (even though now we are on our way to Romantic stylistically and arguably Romantic/is Romantic - When Schubert/Beethoven die, that's it for me)
Year: 1824
Form: Chamber
Score: 85
This was great counterpoint dancing and quite nice. I didn't fall in love my first listen, but totally listenable again. Perhaps a better recording is in need...
Also I think AfterHours turned me on to that Beethoven recording via YouTube... if you haven't had a chance check it (although I vaguely remember his having chinese characters in the name and that one doesn't... still 99% sure it's the same incredible performance).
Yep, that looks like it.
Praying that Honeck somehow finds a way to top it.
(although he is on pace for perhaps the greatest Beethoven symphony cycle ever after his 3rd, 5th, 7th, it's still probably asking too much) _________________ Best Classical Best Films Best Paintings
Maybe because this is exactly what we'd expect from Beethoven, but Mozart was still somehow able to surprise us as we generally think of him as Mr. Light and Balance, not necessarily one to bring us the heavies. As for Bach, I've more than once heard the Mass in B minor described as the greatest piece of music ever composed. I do love Bach, and I do almost always here some form of pure perfection in his work, but I still don't quite get elevating the Mass in B minor to that level.
Anyway, I think Beethoven may suffer from expectations here regarding his relative lack of praise in the Mass department.
Well - but I still agree with what you said -so yes both are true, how can you not expect amazing from Beethoven, but yes, ain't nobody I've seen calling Missa Solemnis a top ten work of art. But I'd argue pending on the day, I'd take Missa Solemnis over Bach or Mozart... I mean they all are great works in the Mass form is all, yet I hear more praise on Bach and Mozart is all (and yes as you've alluded, especially Bach).
By the way if you can check out the Theresienmesse from Haydn, I actually think that's nearly on par too... it was quite the powerful work and I know how much you love Haydn (but I know you are less a fan of vocal music).
Ooooh... I'll most definitely check that out! Since you're not as big on Haydn yet you elevate this, that sounds like quite a recommendation.
Era: Classical (even though now we are on our way to Romantic stylistically and arguably Romantic/is Romantic - When Schubert/Beethoven die, that's it for me)
Year: 1825
Form: Lieder
Score: 88
Quote:
This song is a setting of text from near the closing of Canto III from Sir Walter Scott's The Lady of The Lake, in a translation by Adam Storck. It was composed in April, 1825, when Schubert also fashioned Ellens Gesang I and Ellens Gesang II. This third effort is probably the most successful and most popular. Even the composer spoke of its immediate widespread appeal in a letter to his parents in July, 1825, shortly after its first performances. He also indicated that he felt a certain religious devotion when he wrote it, one that came to him naturally and effortlessly. Ellens Gesang III was first published in 1826.
The melody of Ellens Gesang III (Ellen's Song) is attractive and the mood has both a secular and religious feel, at times an even operatic one. The piano accompaniment is gentle and harp-like, quite typical of the composer in this kind of music. The text begins, "Ave Maria! Maiden mild! Listen to a maiden's prayer!" Ellen prays as the clansmen are encouraged to defend their soil from the oncoming royal armies.
In the end, this is one of the composer's most successful songs, written at a time when he was at the height of his powers. Even though his life was cut short when he died before his thirty-second birthday, probably of syphilis he had contracted some years before, he had already become one of the greatest masters of the lied and might have gone on, as his "Great" C major Symphony suggests, to become an equally great composer of orchestral music. -Description by Robert Cummings
Quote:
Schubert's setting of Goethe's Heidenroslein (Wild Rose) (D. 257) from August, 1815, is one of his one-page wonders, strophic songs on one page of music which are miniature musical miracles. Like so many of Schubert's great Goethe settings, there was never a time when Heidenroslein did not exist: its quietly ecstatic melody has always been part of the collective memory of the human race. And like so many of Schubert's best songs, Heidenroslein melody has become virtually a German folk song. Of course, it is impossible to say what exactly it is about Heidenroslein which makes it so great. On the page, the quietly ecstatic melody is merely a G major ditty, the piano accompaniment is a simple vamp, the rhythm is relaxed, the tempo is comfortable and the harmonies go no further from the tonic than a secondary dominant. But when sung, Heidenroslein becomes one of the most artlessly affecting songs in all Schubert.
Maybe because this is exactly what we'd expect from Beethoven, but Mozart was still somehow able to surprise us as we generally think of him as Mr. Light and Balance, not necessarily one to bring us the heavies. As for Bach, I've more than once heard the Mass in B minor described as the greatest piece of music ever composed. I do love Bach, and I do almost always here some form of pure perfection in his work, but I still don't quite get elevating the Mass in B minor to that level.
Anyway, I think Beethoven may suffer from expectations here regarding his relative lack of praise in the Mass department.
Well - but I still agree with what you said -so yes both are true, how can you not expect amazing from Beethoven, but yes, ain't nobody I've seen calling Missa Solemnis a top ten work of art. But I'd argue pending on the day, I'd take Missa Solemnis over Bach or Mozart... I mean they all are great works in the Mass form is all, yet I hear more praise on Bach and Mozart is all (and yes as you've alluded, especially Bach).
By the way if you can check out the Theresienmesse from Haydn, I actually think that's nearly on par too... it was quite the powerful work and I know how much you love Haydn (but I know you are less a fan of vocal music).
Ooooh... I'll most definitely check that out! Since you're not as big on Haydn yet you elevate this, that sounds like quite a recommendation.
Also I think AfterHours turned me on to that Beethoven recording via YouTube... if you haven't had a chance check it (although I vaguely remember his having chinese characters in the name and that one doesn't... still 99% sure it's the same incredible performance).
Yep, that looks like it.
Praying that Honeck somehow finds a way to top it.
(although he is on pace for perhaps the greatest Beethoven symphony cycle ever after his 3rd, 5th, 7th, it's still probably asking too much)
I've seen you mention this before. I have yet to hear a Honeck recording...
Must do when I get the chance to really analyze recordings... but I may never get there because such a task drives me insane sometimes... (I sometimes want to splice them together because some execute certain parts better than others...) but sometimes some recordings are just garbage (trying to be nice...), and finding the "right one" so key to the enjoyment of the work.
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