I once sat through a performance with Ozawa conducting the BP and a Japanese choir, and it was boring as hell. It was pretty obvious neither Seiji nor the choir had much of a clue what the texts are actually about...
I am pretty sure it didn't have Battle, though. That would have been nice. But it had Gruberova and Hampson, and they were very good, too, especially Hampson. But still, the whole performance was not very...interesting. At least it was really loud, courtesy of the BP, but that brings us back to my earlier point, it's not at all only about the blareboombang. Philips recorded that performance, but I never listened to the CD, for obvious reasons.
No matter how fast parts of it should go, there is no point if the words cannot be articulated.
Completely agree. That's why you should listen to the Jochum recording. The clarity of articulation of the choir is excellent. And, like I said, the musical detail shaping and phrasing is outstanding, too - maybe you will "rediscover" the piece. I know it can get too much, I played it so often in orchestras, I literally knew the bass part from memory. It's actually a lot of fun to play, but it can get too much at some point. But after several years, I also "rediscovered" the piece, and still enjoy listening to it. But not all the time.
