RECORDING OF THE MONTH
Felix MENDELSSOHN (1809-1847)
Elijah, Op. 70 (1846) [135:58]
Rosemary Joshua (soprano); Sarah Connolly (mezzo); Robert Murray (tenor);
Simon Keenlyside (baritone) - Elijah; Jonty Ward (treble); Susan Gilmour Bailey
and Emily Rowley Jones (sopranos); Lucy Ballard and Ruth Gibbins (mezzos);
Samuel Boden and Richard Rowntree (tenors); Robert Davies and William Gaunt
(basses); William Whitehead (organ)
Gabrieli Consort; Wrocław Philharmonic Choir; Gabrieli Young Singers
Scheme (Chetham’s Chamber Choir); North East Youth Chorale; Taplow Youth
Choir; Ulster Youth Chamber Choir); Gabrieli Players/Paul McCreesh
rec. 29 August - 1 September 2011, Watford Colosseum and 26 February 2012,
Birmingham Town Hall. DDD
English text and Polish translation included
SIGNUM CLASSICS SIGCD300 [68:30 + 67:28]
Paul McCreesh’s Elijah comes hot on the heels of his sensational
Berlioz
Requiem.
It’s the second fruit of his collaboration with Poland’s Wratislavia
Cantans Festival, and it’s every bit as successful.
As with the Berlioz, McCreesh has gone in pursuit of authenticity, but his
approach is a world away from the pared down sound-world that we tend to associate
with “period” performers. When Mendelssohn premiered Elijah
in Birmingham in 1846, he was operating in a musical world that was unafraid
of embracing the large scale, so McCreesh has decided to re-create one of
those larger than life Victorian musical extravaganzas, and deploys the enormous
forces of around 400 musicians to bring Elijah to startling, exhilarating
life.
The recording was made in the Watford studio (with the sound of the Birmingham
Town Hall organ dubbed on, most effectively, afterwards) after the same group
of forces gave the work at the Proms in 2011, and the results are a dazzling
revelation. The power of the sound that the full orchestra and chorus produce
when operating together is extraordinary. The first entry of the chorus in
part one, coming as it does after a well paced and securely built-up overture,
is hair-raising! The critic for The Times described the Proms performance
as “a wall of sound of thunderous depth that almost knocked you over”,
and you can hear why! The massed chorus cover themselves in glory at every
turn. The big set-piece choruses like the conclusion to Part One, or Part
Two’s Be Not Afraid, are fantastic. However, they are also used
with biting intelligence to accentuate the drama, such as God’s appearance
to Elijah in Part Two or, when Elijah announces the contest in Part One, at
the line “and then we shall see whose God is the Lord”. This rises
and swells with an emotional fervour that can bring a lump to the throat.
When I first began to listen I found the English text a little difficult to
make out, but before long I found it pretty easy to follow almost every word.
McCreesh supplements his two principal choruses - the Gabrieli Consort and
Wroclaw Philharmonic Choir - with a collection of youth choruses which spice
up the texture and lend a special texture to the sound. This is movingly written
about in the excellent booklet notes.
McCreesh turns his customary period scholarship to the forces of the orchestra
too, using rare instruments such as ophicleides, slide trumpets, serpents
and tower drums to enrich the orchestral texture. For all their vast size,
the orchestra never feels unwieldy or cumbersome; instead it is remarkable
just how flexible, even transparent at times the texture can sound. The strings,
employing gut instruments without vibrato, are especially strong, evidenced
nowhere more brilliantly than in their wilting, mournful accompaniment to
Elijah’s Part Two aria, “It is enough”. The brass and percussion
are also sensational in the big climaxes. McCreesh welds the whole ensemble
together with the focus and sheer conviction that carries the whole project.
The soloists are also top drawer. Simon Keenlyside is a poetic, troubled Elijah,
very unlike the grizzled hermit embodied by Bryn Terfel on Decca. He is powerfully
moving during the crisis of Part Two, but even in the dramatic moments, such
as the confrontation with the prophets of Baal, there is profound lyricism
in his singing which I found entirely convincing. He sings “It is enough”
with such wonderful poignancy. The accompaniment from a solo oboe is sensational.
He is partnered by appropriately heavenly sounding female soloists. Rosemary
Joshua is particularly thrilling. Her bright soprano is put to ethereal use
in Part Two and blends wonderfully with Sarah Connolly in the duets and trios.
Connolly herself uses her lovely mezzo to great effect, contrasting effectively
with her colleagues. Her finest moment is in “Woe unto them” at
the end of Part One, pouring down balm after the slaughter of the prophets
of Baal. We don’t get to hear much of Robert Murray, but his contribution
is clean and focused, especially in “If with all your hearts”.
I could go on, and I direct readers to John Quinn’s thorough review
of the same set for more, but I finish where I started by saying that this
is worth every bit as much praise as McCreesh’s Berlioz. Let’s
hope there’s a lot more to come.
Simon Thompson
Worth every bit as much praise as McCreesh’s Berlioz.
see also reviews by John Quinn (October 2012 Recording of the Month) and Michael Cookson