About Jérémie Rhorer's recording of the challenging Beethoven's Missa solemnis
"Beethoven put all of his tools, all of his knowledge, all of his spirituality into this piece,’ says the 51-year-old Rhorer amid two Zoom calls scheduled around performances of another choral blockbuster, Verdi’s Requiem. ‘It’s said that compositional technique is not about the number of tools but about knowing how and the right moment to use them. I was always intrigued by the nature of the testament of this musical Everest: how it was built, what it was for, its expression of faith.’
Studying the piece is like exploring a cathedral with numerous hidden chapels, alcoves and crypts. Yet Rhorer has a clear compass: ‘I always start from the text. I never listen to any recordings – ever. The most important things to determine are the harmonic reasons for how it goes with the voice.’ He brings to the score breath-related insights that come with having been a boy chorister and a flautist.
Even after extensive study, the Missa solemnis doesn’t emerge as a tidy whole. Rhorer feels that it’s deeply Christian, but also steeped in the Age of Enlightenment; that it’s a somewhat disguised Passion oratorio – one with seldom-detected influences from Handel’s Messiah (which Beethoven studied, even echoing the ‘Hallelujah’ chorus in his Agnus Dei). ‘But the core of the piece’, he says, ‘is the mystery of the Resurrection.’ [...]
Philosophical questions about what the music means on a moment-by-moment basis yield more lively discussion, namely on the piece’s ongoing expression of what Rhorer calls ‘the distress of humankind without God’. As a Missa solemnis nerd, I floated my own newly hatched, under-investigated theory that the passages about God tend to be in duple metre, while the human-on-earth passages are often in triple metre – one example being the transition from the ‘Kyrie eleison’ to the ‘Christe eleison’ (bar 86, track 1, 3'14"). That tentatively sits well with Rhorer. Also, his belief that the piece is actually a Passion oratorio finds convincing evidence in the stabbing gestures in the ‘Crucifixus’ of the Credo (bar 157, track 6, 2'02")."
David Patrick Stearns, Gramophone
"This is an extraordinary reading of an extraordinary piece. Jérémie Rhorer came to the Missa solemnis afresh, eschewing recorded versions. He performs it at A = 430 Hz (which apart from its historical prescience, helps the sopranos of the Audi Jugendchorakademie!) and with the remarkable Le Cercle d l'Harmonie. It is fair to say tempos are brisk, but not for the sake of it: this is often edge of the seat drama. In a Gramophone interview, Rhorer has suggested there is something of a Passion about this piece, and perhaps one can intuit that from the reverential gait of the opening choral Kyrie, which also serves to establish the absolutely superb recording. The performance was taken down in the Philharmonie, Paris on April 23, 2024. The engineers (of Radio Classique) are truly superb, balancing soloists well (forward but not intrusive) as well as allowing every orchestral detail to come through. The Philharmonie can seem like a huge barn if you sit in the wrong place, but not here. And Rhorer has really studied this score in intimate detail. [...]
Rhorer's “Credo” works better than most. There are no pools of longeur here, just a rigorous approach and again the sense of the perfect tempo. And Behle has all of the strength (without encroaching into Heldentenor territory) for the annunciatory “Et homo factus est”. A diminuendo into nothing prior to the “Et resurrect” is unforgettable, the “Et resurrect” itself a ball of Beethovenian fire, the choir rising to Beethoven's demands magnificently. To take it at this speed and maintain clarity is an achievement indeed. And then “Et vitam Venturi” makes on the mode of a processional (sopranos admirable in the face of Beethoven's demands, and even more so when the counterpoint really launches).
Rhorer pinpoints the modernity in Beethoven's score, too, heard clearly in the “Sanctus” a movement yet blessed with the most wonderful violin solo from Jonathan Stone (previously of the Doric Quartet). When it comes to the violin and soloists' “Benedictus,” Reiss' soprano shines like a light, and yet the balance is perfect. It is later, also, when he solo violin has to contend with vocal forces as well as orchestra."
Coline Clarke, Classic Explorer\
"What immediately appeals to me about the new recording under Jérémy Rhorer is the fluidity of the reproduction, the tension held from the Kyrie to the Agnus Dei, the agogic subtleties, especially in connection with harmonic changes and transitions, as well as an operatic culinary of the sound.
The interpretation is based on the meticulous illumination of the notes by the conductor and orchestra with regard to "all the signs noted by the composer" with direct consequences for timbres, the balance between the instruments and the interaction between choir and orchestra.
Rhorer succeeds in bringing the pithy, slender and yet extremely warm sound of the original sound ensemble into a coherent harmony with the specifically fresh sound of the Audi Youth Choir Academy, founded in 2007. This excellent selection ensemble is made up of 70 singers aged 16 to 27. They come from the territory of the entire Federal Republic of Germany and from Austria. The choir is under the artistic direction of Prof. Martin Steidler. It is pleasant to note that the soprano trebles flow freely and roundly, and that the voices have enough power and reserves to show the necessary fullness on a par with the orchestra.
Particularly remarkable in Jérémy Rhorer's reading is the wonderfully retarding transition from "Sancto spiritu" to the final fugue of the Gloria ("In Gloria Dei Patris. Amen").Rhorer takes the fugue itself incredibly quickly. With high precision, the voices soar to an incredible jubilation as an ecstatic praise of the entire creation. [...]
Result: A "Missa Solemnis" of our time, powerful and clear in its statements, highly emotional and rousing performed by the predominantly young participants.
Dr. Ingobert Waltenberger, Online Merker
"Like his illustrious predecessor, Rhorer dusts off the work by making its architecture more clearly perceived, which is of course easier to do when the musical time is reduced. The fugues regain an urgency that they could have lost in the traditional versions: the beginning of the "sancto spiritu" is of an energy that makes the hair stand on end. Everywhere, the conductor's alert gesture lightens the subject, explodes the dynamics, ignites the sacred fire that consumed Beethoven at the time of writing. We come out shaken but enthusiastic, especially since the quicksilver of the conception does not prevent either lyricism or contemplation. The Kyrie may be fast, but we can hear an imploring humanity that bends under misfortune and the feeling of guilt. All the passages of the Creed relating to the incarnation are rendered with humanity and sensitivity, and although the beginning of the Sanctus is rapid, it is as sepulchral as it needs to be to create a contrast with the outpouring of joy of the "Hosannah" that follows."
Dominique Joucken, Forum Opera
"The clock is turned back only selectively in a new recording of Beethoven’s Missa solemnis (ALPHA1111) by Jérémie Rhorer, who conducted several excellent Mozart opera recordings with his period-instrument group Le Cercle de l’Harmonie. The composer’s near-impossible fast tempo demands — no doubt well beyond the grasp of choruses in Beethoven’s time — are no problem for the Audi Jugendchorakademie in Rhorer’s breathtaking Gloria. Other choral groups might sound like they’re running for their lives. And the artistic rewards of such high-velocity Beethoven? Often called the greatest unperformable masterpiece, Missa solemnis becomes a spiritual event that’s superhuman in every way."
David Patrick Stearns, Classical Voice North America