Beethoven Missa Solemnis Op. 123

"Written between 1818 and 1823, the result of intensive theological and musical research in the library of its dedicatee, Archduke Rudolph of Austria, the Missa solemnis is, in Beethoven's own view, his most ambitious composition. In this recording, René Jacobs shows us that it is also his loftiest, the work of a composer with deeply held religious sentiments and profound tenderness for humanity, so confident in his artistry that he could create a work that goes beyond liturgical form and expresses in musical terms the universality of divine transcendence."