Mendelssohn’s oratorios
St Paul and
Elijah have long been popular choral works on record, and they
have been well served in recent decades with excellent versions available
from a wide variety of sources. I have a particular affection for the
Welsh singing on Richard Hickox’s live Cardiff
Paulus on
Chandos
CHAN9882
(or more recently
10516(2)),
and even that venerable 1968 Philips recording of
Elias conducted
by Wolfgang Sawallisch still has plenty to offer.
These Carus recordings under Frieder Bernius have been around for a
while now but are still leading contenders in the field. Their general
effect is leaner and more ‘authentic’ sounding than some
alternatives, with restricted vibrato in the strings and a generally
light all-round touch, adding welcome clarity and throwing out any suspicions
of sentimental wallowing.
Michael Cookson has reviewed the initial release of this Mendelssohn
Paulus very thoroughly
here,
and a review of all 12 volumes of the Frieder Bernius complete Mendelssohn
Sacred Choral Music, also including these works, can be found
here.
You will no doubt notice that these earlier releases are SACD multi-channel
discs, whereas this 4 CD box is standard CD format. It follows on from
CARUS 83.020 which is a 10 CD box of the
Geistlisches Chorwerk,
so you can now save plenty of cash with either of these if the SACD
aspect of the recordings isn’t of interest.
Clean, elegant and energetic orchestral sound with a strong core of
excellent brass tone is assured, and the Kammerchor Stuttgart is also
an excellent crowd, representing
Das Volk in
Paulus with
tremendous gusto. Soloists are also universally good. (soprano) Maria
Cristina Kiehr takes her roles in this oratorio movingly and with eloquent
expressiveness, and the crucial (tenor) part is held strongly by Werner
Güra.
Paulus himself in the voice of Michael Volle strikes
just about the right balance between detailed articulation and dramatic
characterisation. The central visionary moment,
Und als er auf dem
Wege war, is rather magical, stirring the imagination and conjuring
up all of those images of the road to Damascus we’ve been pre-programmed
with since childhood.
The end of CD 2 brings us two recitatives and choruses from the incomplete
Christus:
Die Geburt Christi from Part I and
Das Leiden
Christi from Part II. This late Mendelssohn music is fascinating,
in part due to its relative lack of familiarity, but mainly through
the sheer amount of drama and expressive breadth packed into brief episodes.
One can at times almost imagine it as an early black and white movie,
with the moments of recitative the equivalent of those blocks of texts
which pop up between action scenes portrayed by the chorus.
With this
Elias we have another very fine recording and performance.
It was summed up as ‘impeccable’ by Michael Cookson and
there is very little to add. (soprano) Letizia Scherrer has the kind
of toothsome tone which carries over just about anything without turning
into wobbly opera diva mode. We are once again in the very safe hands
of Michael Volle in the title role, and all other solo parts are equally
secure and convincing. Special movements such as the unaccompanied three
angels singing
Hebe deine Augen auf zu den Bergen are gorgeous.
The
recording is perhaps not quite as transparent as with
Paulus,
with the parts of the choir sounding a just little collapsed and centre-channel
at times. There’s a funny little bump and a minor and momentary
loss of volume 1:10 into
Fürchte dich nicht; track two on
the second CD, but otherwise this is another top-notch technical triumph.
For a one-stop place to have Mendelssohn’s oratorios on your shelf
this box set is hard to beat. Texts are all given in German and English,
there are full track listings on each cardboard CD sleeve, excellent
booklet notes on all of the works and documentation on the performers.
There’s no such thing as a ‘budget’ Carus release,
and this set is one you can possess with pride and enjoy at length.
Dominy Clements
Paulus (
St.
Paul)
Maria Cristina Kiehr, (soprano) (Ananias)
Werner Güra, (tenor) (Barnabas)
Michael Volle, (bass) (Saul of Tarsus/St. Paul)
Patrick Pobeschin, (bass)
Adolph Seidel, (bass)
Sigrum Maria Borntrager, (alto)
Maria Bernius, (soprano)
Julian Prégardien, (tenor)
Sonntraud Engels-Benz (organ)
Kammerchor Stuttgart
Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen/Frieder Bernius
rec. 16-17, 19 September 2005 at Forum Ludwigsburg, Germany.
Christus (Oratorio fragments) for soloists, choir
and orchestra, Op. 97
Cornelius Hauptmann, (bass)
Johannes-Christoph Happel (baritone)
Christoph Prégardien, (tenor)
Dorothea Rieger, (soprano)
Sonntraud Engels-Benz (organ)
Kammerchor Stuttgart,
Mitglieder der Bamberger Symphoniker/Frieder Bernius
rec. May 1987, Pfarrkirche Schwaigern, Germany (1-3) and Pfarrkirche
Gönningen (4-8), Germany.
Elijah
Letizia Scherrer, (soprano) (Widow, Youth, Angel);
Renée Morloc, (alto) (Angel)
Werner Güra, (tenor) (Obadiah)
Michael Volle, (bass) (Elijah)
Sarah Wegener, (soprano) (child)
Ute Schulze, (soprano)
Maria Bernius, (soprano)
Ute Feuerecker, (alto)
Elke Rutz, (alto)
Jörg Genslein, (tenor)
Nik Koch, (tenor)
Alexander Lauer, (bass)
Adolph Seidel, (bass)
Sarah Wegener, (soprano)
Sigrun Maria Bornträger, (alto)
Kammerchor Stuttgart
Klassische Philharmonie Stuttgart/Frieder Bernius
rec. 3-5 January 2007, Evangelische Stadtkirche, Schwaigern, Germany.
