The Palau de la Música Catalana hosts today, Wednesday, December 21, Beethoven's Solemn Mass under the direction of Philippe Herreweghe. During the concert, the soprano Eleonore Lyons, the contralto Eva Zaizick, the tenor Ilker Arcayürek and the bass-baritone Thomas Bauer will participate as vocal soloists.
Beethoven's Solemn Mass, one of the keys to the repertoire of the Orchester des Champs-Élysées, was composed almost in parallel with the Ninth Symphony and in which Beethoven wanted to evoke human concerns and suffering; one more example of the genius of the Bonn composer and a transcendent journey of a revolutionary through religious mystery.
In the words of Ramon Llull University professor and music critic Jaume Radigales in the concert program, "Beethoven's Solemn Mass is a work of unequivocal singularity, so personal that it is very difficult to integrate it into the symphonic-choral tradition that started with Händel's oratorios, the Mass in B minor and Bach's Passions and Oratorios and which continues with the sacred works of Mozart (for example, the Mass in C minor or the Requiem) or the Haydnian oratorios”.
The concert, corresponding to the Palau 100 cycle, will celebrate the 25th anniversary of the declaration of the Palau de la Música Catalana as World Heritage by Unesco. In addition, it will put an end to the European tour of the Belgian director, which began on December 8 and has gone through Poitiers, Vienna, Budapest, Hamburg, Hannover, Düsseldorf, Brussels, Essen and Luxembourg.
