Beethoven Missa solemnis   Andrew Manze  conductor Carolyn Sampson  soprano  Sophie Harmsen  mezzo soprano  Ed Lyon  tenor  Darren Jeffery  bass  BBC National Chorus of Wales  MAGNIFICENT | REVERENTIAL | WORLD-CLASS Standing as a monument to sacred choral works, Beethoven's Missa Solemnis is a mass setting of immense weight and scale. Lofty grandeur and heavenward serenity dance with angular leaping figures, violent dynamic contrasts weave through the delicately orchestrated massed forces, and a searching quality reflective of his own faith, that of looking beyond our understanding at a numinous God, is never far from the surface.   Regarded by Beethoven as his greatest work, his Missa Solemnis is surely a 'bucket list' piece to experience and marvel at for all music lovers, and with an acclaimed line up of soloists stepping up alongside the BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales, this is a performance not to be missed.