I always found Christoph Eschenbach a much better pianist than conductor: his 1968 recording of Beethoven’s First Concerto with Karajan was unforgettable and his insights into the Op 111 Sonata many years later ranks among the best. By contrast, his conducting often seems stodgy.

So this stunning performance and recording of the Missa Solemnis came as a revelation. The London Philharmonic Orchestra is in sizzling and quite virtuosic form. Running to just over 80 minutes, tempos are mainstream. I was hurtled backward in my chair – like, I imagine, most of the audience – with the velocity and ferocity of the choral fugue in the Gloria. The (appropriately) manic sound of the choir in Beethoven’s cruel tessitura of this paroxysm remind me that he may well have been mad when he composed it. The singing is largely undiffereniated and unnuanced and the diction is pretty unclear, but the result is impressive nonetheless. 

No one will ever eclipse Klemperer’s implacable juggernaut (EMI) here. The soloists are more than satisfactory, although the soprano Anne Schwanewilms and Nicolai Schukoff are the most distinguished of the four. Dietrich Henschel is no Martti Talvela. Pieter Schoeman’s solo violin in the Benedictus is balm for the soul indeed. Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis is problematic in that it wags a very long tail: the main climax comes one third of the way through. The remaining two thirds are mainly a rumination, with a brief trumpet-led martial flourish at the end and ominous trombones. Nonetheless, this is a very fine reading of a difficult work.