Concertgebouworkest & Klaus Mäkelä: Beethovens Missa solemnis

Klaus Mäkelä

With future chief conductor Klaus Mäkelä, the Concertgebouw Orchestra storms the heavens in Beethoven's Missa solemnis . You usually don't think of religious music when it comes to Beethoven, but this mass hits the mark—and is proof that Bach did not have the last word in this genre. Everything about this work is impressive: the grandiose instrumentation, the wildly exciting interplay between choir and orchestra, the spiritual charge that sweeps along even a die-hard atheist. Beethoven worked on it for four years. He himself considered it his best work.

Beethoven's Missa solemnis

Beethoven was not a religious person. His Missa solemnis is therefore not music of subjugation, but of faith in humanity. Just as in the famous Ninth Symphony from the same period, Beethoven expresses here his hope for a dignified existence for everyone. Such a message remains relevant today—and makes the Missa solemnis an indestructible masterpiece.