There are places in the world where the work of
Volkmar Andreae as a composer and conductor are still honored. But while one might guess those places would be Switzerland, his home country, and Austria, his postwar base of operations, one would be wrong; so far in the digital era, no Swiss or Austrian label has released recordings of
Andreae's work. Instead, the one disc devoted to his work as a composer, a pairing of his piano trios, comes from the English Guild label while the one disc devoted to his work as a conductor, this disc of his 1955 performance of Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, comes from the all but anonymous European Archipel label.
Andreae's performance of the Missa Solemnis has several things to recommend it. Most importantly, it has a suitably dedicated interpretation that stresses the work's monumental tendencies. Clearly a skilled conductor,
Andreae elicits determined performances from the Chor des Singverein der Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde Wien and the Wiener Symphoniker that fully support his interpretation. Arguably the best things about the performance, however, are the soloists. A "who's who" of "who's hot" in Vienna in the '50s, the cast is a veritable dream team -- soprano
Teresa Stich-Randall, alto Hilde-Rössel Majdan, tenor
Julius Patzak, and bass
Gottlob Frick -- and their heart-rending blend at the start of the Agnus Dei has to be heard to be believed. Certainly the worst thing about this recording is the recording itself. In addition to rough, faded sound, the soloists are placed too far forward, the chorus is placed too far back, and the orchestra seems to move depending on who's playing loudest. In sum, then, this is a far more than creditable performance in far less than acceptable sound that deserves to be heard by listeners who can't hear enough recordings of Beethoven's sacred masterpiece.