Felix MENDELSSOHN (1809-1847)
Elijah - oratorio for soloists, choir and orchestra, Op. 70
(1846) [135:58]
Simon Keenlyside (baritone) - Elijah; Robert Murray (tenor) - Obadiah; Rosemary
Joshua (soprano) - Widow; Sarah Connolly (mezzo) - Angel; Jonty Ward (treble)
Double quartet of Angels: Susan Gilmour Bailey (soprano); Emily Rowley Jones
(soprano), Lucy Ballard (mezzo); Ruth Gibbins (mezzo); Samuel Boden (tenor);
Richard Rowntree (tenor); Robert Davies (bass); William Gaunt (bass)
Gabrieli Young Singers Scheme: Chetham’s Chamber Choir, North East Youth
Chorale, Taplow Youth Choir and Ulster Youth Choir; Wrocław Philharmonic
Choir
Gabrieli Consort & Players/Paul McCreesh
William Whitehead (organ)
rec. 29 August-1 September 2011, Watford Colosseum, England, 26 February 2012,
Birmingham Town Hall, England
Sung in English with full texts included
SIGNUM RECORDS SIGCD300 [68:30 + 67:28]
Paul McCreesh is the artistic director of the London based Gabrieli Consort
& Players that he founded in 1982. In addition McCreesh is the artistic
director of the Wratislavia Cantans the International Festival of Oratorio
and Cantata Music held annually in Wrocław, Poland. This Signum recording
of Mendelssohn’s Elijah continues the collaboration between Anglo/Polish
performers that McCreesh has cultivated. On 28th August 2011 for a performance
of Elijah at the BBC Proms McCreesh invited the Wrocław Philharmonic
Choir over to England to augment his Gabrieli Consort & Players and other
groups of choruses. The next day McCreesh took these same large forces numbering
5 vocal soloists, a chorus of 296 singers and 116 instrumental players into
the Watford Colosseum spending the next four days making this recording. Another
session was needed to complete the recording on the 26 February 2012 at Birmingham
Town Hall.
It comes as no surprise that McCreesh has chosen to record Elijah a
landmark of Mendelssohn’s oeuvre and probably the most famous oratorio
of the nineteenth century. Widely acknowledged as a masterpiece Elijah
is Mendelssohn’s second great oratorio and was completed just a year
before his premature death in 1847. In 1845 the Birmingham Music Festival
committee requested Mendelssohn to compose a new work for them. As he had
done with his earlier oratorio St. Paul Mendelssohn requested the pastor
Julius Schubring to prepare the texts in German. Unlike St. Paul that
mainly employed New Testament texts, Mendelssohn fashioned Elijah on
Old Testament texts largely from Kings I and II, depicting various events
in the life of the Biblical prophet Elijah. The score was supplemented by
texts from Psalms, Isaiah and other Old Testament writings. Mendelssohn designed
Elijah in two parts each of which are based around three significant
events in Elijah’s life.
The oratorio Elijah is scored for solo voices, chorus, orchestra and
organ and was completed in 1846. Mendelssohn himself conducted the first performance
of the score in 1846 to great acclaim before a packed audience at the Birmingham
Music Festival held at the Birmingham Town Hall, England. Elijah has
remained a staple of choral music repertory ever since. On this Signum recording
the score that conductor Paul McCreesh is using is based on a performing edition
by Prof. R. Larry Todd (musicologist and Mendelssohn Biographer) published
by Carus and original 19th century sources. McCreesh is using Julius Schubring’s
sung texts in an English version prepared by William Bartholomew with McCreesh
himself making some revisions to the wording. It was a masterstroke for McCreesh
to secure the services of baritone Simon Keenlyside (Elijah) and mezzo-soprano
Sarah Connolly (Angel) both major names on the international stage. The other
two soloists tenor Robert Murray (Obadiah) and soprano Rosemary Joshua (Widow)
are excellent singers too but are somewhat lesser known. McCreesh’s
Gabrieli Players is a period instrument orchestra. We are told in the notes
that the strings have gut stringing and also of note are the English slide
trumpets, and McCreesh has also tracked down 3 serpents and a rare ophicleide.
I don’t have any more information about how strict McCreesh is about
authenticity such as reverting to period horsehair bows and not using chin/shoulder
rests on the violins/violas.
In the introduction (CD1, track 1) As God the Lord of Israel liveth
Keenlyside sets the scene by communicating a sense of dark foreboding by announcing
that a great drought will soon affect the people of Israel. In Elijah’s
aria Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel (CD1, track 17) the fluid
and expressive Keenlyside conveys a comforting quality beseeching the Lord
for affirmation for his deeds to the people. Elijah’s aria Is not
his word like a fire? (CD1, track 20) is a stern and unsettling warning.
Here Keenlyside’s convincing tones with impressive diction adds impact
to the harsh and meaningful text. Elijah’s great aria It is enough!
O Lord, now take away my life (CD2, track 6) opens with highly impressive
string playing creating a palpable sense of poignancy. In this moving plea
to the Lord for death Keenlyside’s baritone easily copes with the low
tessitura of the writing. Woe unto them who forsake him! (CD1, track
21) is a lyrical alto aria sung splendidly by Sarah Connolly. Her direct and
emphatic mezzo-soprano tones convey a stark warning to those transgressors
that destruction will fall upon them. With assured control Connolly as the
Angel gives a moving performance of her radiant alto aria O rest in the
Lord, wait patiently for Him (CD2, track 11). The beseeching duet between
soprano and mezzo with chorus Lord! bow thine ear to our prayer! (CD1,
track 4) is given a marvellous rendition of unerring reverence. I did feel
here that the soprano and mezzo were a touch recessed in the sound picture.
Obadiah’s aria If with all your hearts ye truly seek me (CD1,
track 6) is sung by bright tenor Robert Murray with fitting piety. The tenor
aria Then shall the righteous shine forth (CD2, track 20) is given
a vivid and sensitive rendition by the secure Murray. Soprano Rosemary Joshua
really excels as the Widow. The duet What have I to do with thee? (CD1,
track 11) contains the moving ‘widow’s aria’ sung by Joshua
imploring God for help as her son is dying. Joshua has a bell-like clarity
to her voice that she projects so well. Part two of Elijah commences with
Hear ye, Israel, hear what the Lord speaketh (CD2, track 1) a substantial
and brilliant soprano aria. This is captivating and impressively reverential
singing by the lyric soprano and another highlight of the release. Throughout
I was struck by Joshua’s fluid timbre, impressive projection and flawless
diction. Especially notable in the aria is her powerful delivery of the words
I will strengthen thee!
Treble Jonty Ward only has a limited contribution but what he does is simply
marvellous. I have come across treble Ward singing in a wonderful disc of
sacred music from François Couperin on the Novum label. Chorister Ward’s
voice is in tremendous order singing with a fresh and responsive quality.
I was especially struck by the splendid singing from the Angels in For
He shall give His Angels charge over thee (CD1, track 9) a wondrously
tender and inspiring pronouncement that God has commanded the Angels to protect
thee. Scored for double quartet the singers are taken from the chorus and
are named as sopranos Susan Gilmour Bailey and Emily Rowley Jones; altos Lucy
Ballard and Ruth Gibbins; tenors Samuel Boden and Richard Rowntree; basses
Robert Davies and William Gaunt. The large chorus is in stunning form bright
and resilient with singing of a striking presence. I especially enjoyed the
chorus of the people voicing their anguish in Help, Lord! Wilt Thou quite
destroy us? (CD1, track 3). Worthy of note here is Mendelssohn’s
darkly coloured orchestral writing performed with distinction by the Gabrieli
Players. In Yet doth the Lord see it not (CD1, track 7) the troubled
chorus of the people intone the curse motive that was heard initially in the
first section of the work. At point 1:17 the chorale-like melody with the
lines For he the Lord our God provides a calm and welcome glimpse of
vivid blue through a dark and threatening sky. Sung with impressive unison
the highly dramatic and bone-chilling chorus of the people announce Woe
to him! He shall perish (CD 2, track 4). Extra weight is given to the
texture by Mendelssohn’s splendid percussion writing. The chorus He,
watching over Israel, slumbers not, nor sleeps (CD2, track 9) is given
a stirring and highly satisfying performance by the impressively blended members
of McCreesh’s choral forces. The forceful outburst in the final chorus
And then shall your light shine forth as the light of morning breaketh
(CD2, track 24) is sung to remarkable effect.
Paul McCreesh directs confidently managed performances of elevated veneration
from his choral forces of 296 singers. The assured orchestral support from
the Gabrieli Players comes across as light, clear with a near translucent
quality; quite remarkable given that there are orchestral 116 players. McCreesh
and his huge choral and orchestral forces are beautifully recorded mainly
from the Watford Colosseum in 2011 and a later session in 2012 at Birmingham
Town Hall. I am delighted to report that the comprehensive notes in the booklet
include full English texts.
I have collected a number of recordings of Elijah and from those accounts
sung in English I strongly admire the set conducted by Paul Daniel using a
period instrument orchestra and featuring Bryn Terfel as Elijah. This is a
performance that manages to balance thrilling drama with sufficient reverence.
Released in 1997 the cast of singers include Renée Fleming (soprano);
Patricia Bardon (mezzo); John Mark Ainsley (tenor); Bryn Terfel (bass-baritone);
the Edinburgh Festival Chorus and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
on ‘London’ Decca 0289 455 6882 9. Using a German text another
recommendable recording of Elijah is from Helmuth Rilling conducting
the Gächinger Kantorei Stuttgart and the Bach-Collegium Stuttgart on
Brilliant Classics 99953. I love the great energy and consummate control that
Rilling presides over and his cast of soloists is impressive; Christine Schäfer
(soprano); Cornelia Kallisch (alto); Michael Schade (tenor) and Wolfgang Schöne
(baritone). Recorded in 1994 at the Liederhalle, Stuttgart, Rilling’s
recording has a first-rate sound quality. The disc is also coupled with an
equally impressive performance conducted by Helmuth Rilling of St.
Paul with the Prager Kammerchor and Czech Philharmonic Orchestra (review).
There is much to admire in the stunning performed 2011 account from Doris
Hagel conducting the Kantorei der Schlosskirche Weilburg and the Capella Weilburgensis
on period instruments. Using a German text Hagel’s cast of soloists
is Christine Wolff (soprano); Britta Schwarz (alto); Markus Schäfer (tenor)
and Klaus Mertens (bass-baritone). Beautifully recorded at the Schlosskirche,
Weilburg an der Lahn, Germany the set is on Profil, Edition Günter Hänssler
on DCD PH12034 (review).
Also on the Profil Hänssler label is Wolfgang Sawallisch’s splendid
live 2001 Munich recording with a German text. Sawallisch’s superb Bavarian
Radio Orchestra and Choir meet all the requirements needed for this marvellous
oratorio. The fine cast of soloists is Michael Volle (bass); Andrea Rost (soprano);
Marjana Lipovsek (alto); Herbert Lippert (tenor); Letizia Scherrer (soprano);
Thomas Cooley (tenor) and Barbara Fleckenstein (soprano). Recorded in the
excellent acoustics of the Hercules Hall, Munich the first class sound quality
is notable containing much fine detail on Profil, Edition Günter Hänssler
PH07019 (review).
I have also enjoyed Philippe Herreweghe’s recording of Elijah
with La Chapelle Royale, Collegium Vocale Gent and the Orchestre des Champs-Elysées
on period instruments.Using a German text this recording from Metz
in 1993 has a satisfying cast of soloists Petteri Salomaa (bass); Soile Isokoski
(soprano); Monika Groop (alto) and John Mark Ainsley (tenor) on Harmonia Mundi
HMC901463.64.
Congratulations are in order to all those involved in this splendidly sung
and recorded release of Mendelssohn’s Elijah on Signum. Paul
McCreesh does sterling work in controlling his large choral and orchestral
forces that number well over 400. I have no better recording of Elijah
and this will certainly be a set that I will reach for again and again.
Michael Cookson
A set that I will reach for again and again.
see also review by John
Quinn