Updated 19 April 2026: Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis is a work I always wanted to perform, but it was never programmed — the same for Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast; I would like to have performed that — during the three seasons I was a chorister with the Orchestra Choruses.  The Missa Solemnis is “muhduh” for the Chorus, such as the soprano section being at the extreme of their high register, and only the finest Choruses can perform the Missa Solemnis with the highest level of choral excellence as is the case in the performance above. I’ve said many times that in my opinion these days Deutschland has the best Orchestra Choruses anywhere.  And this is another performance to confirm that from a choral excellence perspective. So again, I have to ask:  Why can’t some of the Orchestra Choruses in the US sound like this Chorus from Bavaria? That answer is rather complicated.  First, it depends upon who auditions for the Chorus and the caliber of the choristers who audition. It also depends upon whether the Chorus Director does his/her job properly and has an ear for choral excellence. Not all do. I’ve written repeatedly about the Director of Choral Activities at New England Conservatory — her riding on the coattails of Westminster Choir College — and she apparently loves to hear her sopranos and altos wobble and flutter their way through pieces as if they’re extremely nervous. Who likes that sound? I guess she does.  Either that, or she’s too damned lazy to work on the women’s perfect intonation.  As I remember, the tenors and basses mostly sang with perfect intonation. They were better than the sopranos and altos. The same is true at Boston University’s School of Music with their Symphonic Chorus, and the same is true (or was; I haven’t heard them in some time) with the BSO’s Tanglewood Festival Chorus.  Someone told me recently that the Tanglewood Festival Chorus sounds no differently today than they did when I was complaining about them. I’m not too hot on the US Orchestra Choruses these days. Someone wrote a comment that the “sound” of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus has changed — and Robert Shaw would not be pleased — because they’ve been doing too much opera.  One wonders:  Why is a Symphony Chorus doing opera? Doh. Opera is best left for an Opera Chorus and I’ve never heard an Opera Chorus sing with perfect intonation, as if they’ve never heard the term. Perfect intonation is one of the foundations of choral excellence. The only live performance I’ve heard of the Missa Solemnis was in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall with Dr. Paul Traver’s absolutely stellar University of Maryland Chorus and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam with Claudio Abbado conducting.  (Would you tell me:  How many University Choruses get to perform with them?) 

Paul Traver music director

The University of Maryland Chorus gave a superb performance, as I had expected they would do, having heard them before.  Their performance reminded me of the recording I have of the work by Margaret Hillis’s Chicago Symphony Orchestra Chorus.  A couple years later after I sang with The Maryland Chorus, Dr. Traver told me (after I asked him) that they got that engagement after Margaret Hillis recommended them to Claudio Abbado.  He had called Hillis in Chicago asking for her recommendation of an Orchestra Chorus in the DC area.  She had previously done a choral workshop on the Maryland College Park campus so she was very familiar with them.  It had nothing to do with the jealous rumour that, “Did you hear that Paul Traver went storming into the Kennedy Center and demanded that his Maryland Chorus perform with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam?”  That was a lie promoted by one of the jealous basses of the Choral Arts Society of Washington that I heard during a rehearsal break.  Dr. Traver would never have done that.  He accepted engagements he was offered — if he were interested in them — but he didn’t go around demanding that the University of Maryland Chorus be offered engagements.  He would know that Maryland wouldn’t be invited back again if he had taken that uppity, arrogant and rude approach.  And Dr. Traver was very down-to-Earth, a superb musician and Chorus Director and he’s one of my choral mentors. The local classical music station (WGMS) interviewed Sheila Armstrong who was the soprano soloist for the Missa Solemnis.  The interview was all about her career — it wasn’t about the Missa Solemnis at all —  but out of nowhere she said, “I’d like to make mention of this Chorus.  This is one of the finest Choruses I’ve ever heard.”  The interviewer said:  Yes, we should mention that the Chorus is that of the University of Maryland. Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Baden-Württemberg, Hesse, Thuringia and Saxony, as well as the countries of Austria and the Czech Republic. Its capital and largest city is Munich and other major cities include Nuremberg and Augsburg. The Bavarian Radio Choir and Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra are superb in this performance of Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis. Their Chorus Director, Simon Rattle, does his job.  Simon has been the principal conductor of the BRSO and the BRSO Choir since 2023.  The Choir also performs with other major symphony orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, and Staatskapelle Dresden.  That’s interesting because I can’t think of an Orchestra with its own Chorus in the US where the Chorus performs with other Orchestras.  The only exception that comes to mind is when the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus went to Deutschland to perform the Brahms’s EDR with the Berliner Philharmoniker.  But that was a one-time thing. Some more information about the BRSO Choir from AI: Quote: The Bavarian Radio Choir (Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks), founded in 1946, is a world-renowned ensemble based in Munich, Germany, celebrated for its stylistic versatility ranging from Baroque to contemporary music. Associated with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (BRSO) under principal conductor Sir Simon Rattle, the Choir specializes in choral symphonic works, oratorios, and premieres, frequently appearing at major international festivals and venues. End Quote The vocal soloists were: Lucy Crowe, Soprano, Gerhild Romberger, Alto, Julian Prégardien, Tenor and Tareq Nazmi, Bass, and the performance was conducted by John Eliot Gardiner. I appreciated John Gardiner placing the vocal soloists over on the right side of the stage behind the strings.  It’s rare to see that but that’s where they should be since the Orchestra and Chorus are the “stars” of the performance since they perform the majority of the work. This performance was at the Herkulessaal at the Residenz in Munich.  It’s a beautiful Concert Hall.  Built in 1953, it is renowned for its excellent acoustics and is a top venue for classical music, often hosting the Munich Philharmonic and international orchestras. From AI: “The organ at the Herkulessaal (Hercules Hall) in the Munich Residenz is a major concert instrument, originally built in 1962 by Steinmeyer and extensively renovated in 2017/18 by Orgelbau Kaps. It features 79 registers and is known for its power, including specialized additions like a Bombarde unit and a new console to support both symphonic work and sacred choral music.”