Ed Zubrow asks for favorite recordings of the Missa Solemnis.

I also love this work.  For me, the main mistake conductors make is to
treat it too "reverently" - that is, excruciatingly slow tempos, under the
impression that slow=profound, and no bite at all.  The last is important
to me.  I see the work as continually threatening to fall apart with its
own violence, and never quite managing to do so.  The slow passages for me
function as a re-stitching together of the dropped ends.  Consequently,
they need to move coherently and purposefully.

Therefore, most of the usual recordings that will be mentioned as great
performances I have little liking for.  My hands-down favorite reading
is Bernstein's first, with the NY Phil on Sony/CBS.  He treats it almost
cheaply, as if it were the ancestor of the Verdi Requiem - blaring brass,
nice whams from the timpani, a Cadillac of a chorus in the Westminster
Choir, strong, ringing voices and clear texture.  For my money, that's
exactly the way to do it.

Now someone ruin my day and cheer for Boehm or Karajan.

Steve Schwartz