Monteverdi Choir/ORR/Gardiner – review

Barbican, LondonFor the second time this year, the Barbican has heard a wondrous performance of Beethoven's Missa Solemnis conducted by a giant of the 20th-century performance-practice revolution. But that is where the similarity ends. Six months ago, Nikolaus Harnoncourt's version with the Concertgebouw Orchestra and the Netherlands Radio Choir was awesomely spacious and lovingly austere, leading my colleague Tim Ashley to conclude that though there can be no such thing as a definitive Missa...

Read full article Share article