How fortunate was Rudolph Johann Joseph Rainer, Archduke of Austria. In his short life (he died at forty-three), he enjoyed the privileges of empire and the high positions that accrued to his noble state – including the ecclesiastical roles of cardinal and archbishop. Yet we would hardly remember Rudolph had he not been also the chosen pupil of Beethoven, and patron and dedicatee of Beethoven's Archduke Trio, the Emperor Concerto and the Missa Solemnis.

It is easy to love both the Trio and Concerto. Their melodies beguile and haunt; they ask for virtuosity, not a miracle, from the musicians who perform them. But the great solemn Mass in D major, Beethoven's second setting of the liturgy (after the more conventional Mass in C major), is another creature entirely. Little wonder conductor Andrew Davis has waited until his eighth decade to assemble its huge vocal and instrumental resources and bring it to an audience. But how triumphantly he has done so! The recent performance with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Chorus and four splendid soloists was a revelation, paying full homage to the soaring drama of Beethoven's exploration of belief, transcendence, divinity, and the place of humankind in the scheme of things.