Track Listing

1. Messe Solennelle: Introduction
2. Messe Solennelle: Kyrie
3. Messe Solennelle: Gloria
4. Messe Solennelle: Gratias
5. Messe Solennelle: Quoniam
6. Messe Solennelle: Credo
7. Messe Solennelle: Incarnatus
8. Messe Solennelle: Crucifixus
9. Messe Solennelle: Resurrexit (original version)
10. Messe Solennelle: Motet pour l'Offertoire
11. Messe Solennelle: Sanctus
12. Messe Solennelle: O salutaris
13. Messe Solennelle: Agnus Dei
14. Messe Solennelle: Domine, salvum
15. Messe Solennelle: Resurrexit (revised version)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #172032 in Music
• Released on: 1994-03-15
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Import

Customer Reviews

An Unexpected Masterpiece
Even when he abandoned (though he said he "destroyed") this work, Berlioz knew that it was pregnant with possibilities. We know that he admired this older material because he used so much of it in other works. From this work alone we get themes later heard in the Symphonie Fantastique, the Requiem, Te Deum, and Benvenuto Cellini.

One of the reasons this early choral of work of Hector's works so well, and is enjoyable today is the reason that makes all his works interesting: the guy was not interested in mere "filler" to fix his structure. He poured all his creativty (the imagination of a Nineteen year old!) into this work. The sections are all fairly short and to the point...there is almost no meandering musical themes for the sake of structure. Some of the opening sections however, can be a little grating. The openings to the "Credo" and "Crucifixus" are a little awkward.

But taken as a whole, this is one amazing work. This is possibly the single best work from a major composer written in his/her young years, with the exception of Shostakovich's 1st symphony. Mozart doesn't count because he is a special case.

Berlioz's early masterpiece is more colourful than most Masses by other composers, more interesting, and a whole lot more enjoyable. Fully recommended.

P.S....don't worry about the fact that this music contains themes from several of his other works. You'll be so enchanted that you won't mind.

Berlioz Manifestation
The Hector Berlioz Messe Solennelle was discovered and premiered just more than a decade ago, and it surprises me that it hasn't seen more performances since then. It is a youthful work (Berlioz was 20) and it visibly has spawns of future famous works (Symphony Fantastique, Requiem, Te Deum, and operas). Scored for orchestra, chorus, and soprano, tenor, and bass soloists, Berlioz's mature qualities also exist in the score, great melodic writing, interesting orchestral colors and timbres, as well as creative and forward-looking harmonic treatments.

The mass itself is divided into many sections, some I was familiar with, others, not so much: Introduction, Kyrie, Gloria (Gloria, Gratias, and Quoniam), Credo (Credo, Incarnatus, Crucifixus, and Resurrexit), Offertory Motet, Sanctus, O Salutaris, Agnus Dei, and Domine Salvum. The brief introduction's purpose is to set the "D" pitch center that Berlioz will play with throughout, and leads into the opening murky Kyrie fugue; the grimness is aided by offbeat orchestra strikes. As the text moves to Christe, the minor turns to major, but the Kyrie fugue returns; an acceleration to the end however, leads to a triumphant close. The three sections of the Gloria are greatly contrasted: The highly melodic Gloria uses the voices as instrumental accompaniment; the result is an almost witty setting, nearly sounding like Poulenc; Berlioz was certainly ahead of his time. The peaceful Gratias is very pastoral with a gentle lilt; written for SSA to begin, a stirring and emotional orchestration occurs at the bass's entrance near the end. The vivacious Quoniam is a treacherous fugue at whirlwind speeds; a great showstopper. The four-part Credo is also very dramatic: The opening Credo for bass soloist includes some chirpings of birds and a moderate march with chorus. The Incarnatus is a very simple sounding, peaceful duet for soprano and bass soloists leading into the Crucifixus. Odd intervals and orchestrations move the action toward the resurrection, a boisterous finale complete with brass fanfares, patter-song speeds for chorus, and a quirky, yet catchy, melody which culminates into a cataclysmic close. The Offertory Motet for chorus and bass soloist is in a pompous three, at first, reminding me of G. F. Handel. The brusque Sanctus is fanfare-like in voice and orchestra, unlike the stolid settings by Haydn, while the O Salutaris is a peaceful, simple section for chorus; the harps enter and the heavenly peace musically descends. The tenor soloist enters for the first time in the Agnus Dei with other-worldly female chanting; and the whole work concludes with agitated tenor/bass soloists and chorus in Domine Salvum; but all ends triumphantly with full ensemble. In some cases, like in the larger sections, the music moves dramtically, almost plot-based like and opera, creating some really interesting visual depictions of the mass.

The music is highly inventive for 1824; the voice writing is virtuosic in parts, the contraltos are REAL contraltos in a very low tessitura. The orchestrations are wild; at times they sound completely removed from the Classical Era and occasionally modern; other times sounding unusually antique, with occasional hints of Handel and Mozart. Berlioz, however, is unusually good at writing melody and varied textures, where this work shines. The world premier recording with John Eliot Gardiner and the Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique, a period instrument ensemble, sizzle with energy on this Philips recording. All voices speak well and is excellently played; the Monteverdi Choir is good as usual, and the soloists are dynamite. Recorded at Westminster Cathedral, the reverberant atmosphere works OK; the chorus bears most of the brunt, occasionally sounding swimmy, and while I enjoy period orchestras, the acoustics amplify some of the tinny-qualities. While I hope there will soon be a modern orchestra recording to add to this recording, this is full of live-performance passion, and a great way to explore further into Berlioz's catalogue.

A unique glimpse into the Berlioz of the future.
Two hundred years ago today, Louis-Hector Berlioz was born. This is a day for me to comment on a few of my favorite performances of his works, some of them "favorites by acclamation" and others simply those in which I find special merit, enough so that they are frequently in my CD players.

Never mind that Hector Berlioz destroyed this student work. It is our good fortune that a copy of the manuscript survived these efforts, and moreover ended up in the hands of John Eliot Gardiner, who directs his Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique and the Montiverdi Choir plus soloists in this premiere recording. (The story of the discovery of the manuscript, believed - or at least hoped - by Berlioz to have been destroyed, is very well set out in the comprehensive booklet notes, as are Gardiner's comments on the work and "getting it to work.")

This is truly "Hector in the raw," the work of a 20-year-old Paris Conservatory student barely trained in the essentials (a burden he would carry around, on and off, throughout his life, thanks to his critics, not to mention his own proclivities toward writing music having few if any harmonic or rhythmic antecedents and which others couldn't fathom). The work clearly has its weaknesses: structural, harmonic, melodic, rhythmic and melodic immaturities simply flood the work, and it is little wonder that, after only two performances, Berlioz designated the work for the scrapheap.

But either he kept good notebooks or he had total recall. So much of this work showed up later (suitably transmogrified, of course, but far from totally disguised) in several of his mature masterpieces: the Symphonie fantastique, the Requiem, the Te Deum, and even his mid-period opera Benvenuto Cellini. Anyone familiar with these works will have little trouble identifying precursor sources throughout the Messe Solennelle. And even the "bad bits" that never did get recycled into later works have their own share of visceral excitement and primitive charm, despite all the weaknesses noted.

The performance, by Gardiner and his troupe, could hardly be more authentic short of partaking of time travel and actually being at the true premiere. The Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique is a true period-instrument ensemble (and sounds it), not only for its insistence on the reproduction of "standard" instruments of the time (low-tension stringed instruments, valveless trumpets and horns, etc.) but also for its incorporation of instruments (which Berlioz in the main plucked out of the brass bands of the time) that have now been obsolete for nearly as long as the work has been around: bass brass instruments that include the ophicleide, the buccin and the serpent. And what a joyful noyse this ensemble makes!

The vocal soloists are uniformly fine. Gilles Cachemaille, the bass, is an old hand at singing Berlioz, and Donna Brown (soprano) and Jean-Luc Viala, while not known to me before this recording also acquit themselves very well.

Recorded now a decade ago, in Westminster Cathedral (to best simulate its initial premiere venue, Saint-Roch in Paris), the sound is certainly among the best for such a type of venue: a great sense of acoustical space, but not buried in excessive reverberation. Very nicely done!

Not long after this recording came out, Bernard Holland, writing in the New York Times, said, "Mr. Gardiner seems to have the early franchise on the 'Messe Solennelle'." As far as I know, this is still the case a decade later. And perhaps that is as it should be; the last thing we need is to have another conductor come along, take a close look at the score, and try to "improve" it. Best that we hear this "Hector in the raw" as it was meant to be heard, and not all "prettified up."

Bon anniversaire, M. Berlioz!

Bob Zeidler