The Missa Solemnis is conducted by James Levine at the 1991 Salzburg Festival, with Cheryl Studer, Jessye Norman, Placido Domingo, Kurt Moll, three excellent choirs, and the wonderful Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Even with no fewer than 3 recordings by Karajan, 2 by Toscanini, and those led by Klemperer, John Eliot Gardiner and Leonard Bernstein currently available, I would pick the Levine as my first choice. Star soloists are not necessarily "must-haves" in the making of a good performance, as proven by the Gramophone-award-winning Gardiner recording. Nevertheless, Levine's four soloists give wonderful performances, barring Cheryl Studer who is beautiful in parts but quite wobbly in others. Jessye Norman effortlessly turns her soprano into a rich mezzo for this occasion, and gives one of the most heartfelt performances on record.

Domingo and Moll are hors concours. Their "big" voices seem to thunder from the wilderness and are a welcome change from the smaller "period" voices that are becoming more common recently. Most touching is the stunningly beautiful violin solo in the Benedictus, though it was unfortunately the swan song (on record) of the VPO's concertmaster Gerhart Hetzel, who was later killed in a mountaineering accident. I have a niggling complaint to get out of the way - the Kyrie is sometimes quite slow to the point of being ponderous.

The Mass in C, played on period instruments, is directed here by Gardiner who leads his British orchestra with the French Name - the Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique. The performance brims with great vitality and momentum, something that is not usually heard in a performance on modern instruments. Incidentally, fugal passages are taken at an invigorating, hell-bent-for-leather tempo in both the Masses.

The Choral Fantasy, a live performance with Kissin at the piano, big-name singers and the BPO under Claudio Abbado, is one of the most compelling performances of a work that seems to be heard more frequently these days. Played like it is here by Kissin, the Fantasy begins to almost sound like a masterpiece. This young Russian firebrand clearly deserves a listen if you have not already done so.

The other works in the volume are relatively less well known and I must confess to hearing them for the first time here. But the performances are never less than compelling and all bear the usual DG trademark of excellent soloists, top-notch orchestras and Beethoven conductors of stature.

In particular, the Cantata: The Moment of Glory, is triumphantly presented by Myung-Whun Chung, with some stirring passages and heroic playing from his Opera Bastille.

The liner notes are most commendable, and should be of interest both to the newbie as well as the Beethoven connoisseur.

To sum up, I was bowled over by the performance of the Missa Solemnis, surely one of the greatest works of music ever composed. However, I also find myself returning frequently to the other works on these discs and I hope that you will too.