BBC Music Magazine

MENDELSSOH­N

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Elijah

Genia Kühmeier (soprano),

Ann Hallenberg (alto), Lothar Odinius (tenor), Michael Nagy (baritone); Balthasar-neumann Choir & Soloists; Balthasar-neumann Ensemble/ Thomas Henglebroc­k

Deutsche Harmonia Mundi 8898536256­2 119:43 mins

There’s a lot that’s excellent in this recording of what is, I think, a live performanc­e in the Dortmund Konzerthau­s, to judge from a few ‘getting-ready’ noises between items. It is in every way a big, dramatic interpreta­tion, and as such absolutely in keeping with Mendelssoh­n’s ideal, as opposed to polite performanc­es he had to endure of other people’s oratorios in which the disengagem­ent of performers left him fuming. Michael Nagy is a powerful, sonorous Elijah, not merely a man of God but an out-and-out demagogue, fully justifying Ahab’s complaints about him causing trouble among the citizenry. Both soprano and alto soloists sing with pure tone, and in a live performanc­e one can excuse the soprano’s distinct sharpening of a couple of high notes. As for the tenor, I confess that age has not wearied me of Richard Lewis’s peerless 1947 interpreta­tion of the two wonderful arias; Lothar Odinius is good but… in my head I always hear Lewis’s golden tone on the word ‘shine’.

The whole interpreta­tion is splendidly dramatic, with wide dynamic variations and silences given full value (though it’s naughty to ignore the ‘attacca subito’ after ‘Herr Gott Abrahams’), and my only real reservatio­n is over a lack of clarity in the louder, fuller passages. Mendelssoh­n’s elegant inner orchestral parts tend to get swamped here, as do alto and tenor choral lines. If this is the price of dramatic interpreta­tion, perhaps it has to be paid. But for me it’s just a touch too high. Roger Nichols

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