For fifteen years Thomas Hengelbrock has been wanting to perform Mendelssohn’s Elijah with his two ensembles. His wish finally came true in January 2016, when he recorded the work on period instruments at the Konzerthaus in Dortmund. The choir was his own Balthasar Neumann Choir – numbered among “the world’s greatest choirs” by Gramophone magazine – and the orchestra was his Balthasar Neumann Ensemble, which the Neue Zürcher Zeitung has hailed as “quite simply a sensation”.
A live recording of this performance has now been released by deutsche harmonia mundi.
order your copy from www.jpc.de here.
FELIX MENDELSSOHN: ELIJAH
sung in German
2 CDs
Label: DHM, DDD, 2015
Order Number: 4686880
Release Date: 18 November 2016
CAST
MICHAEL NAGY Elijah
LOTHAR ODINIUS Ahab/Obadiah
GENIA KÜHMEIER The Widow
ANN HALLENBERG The Queen
BALTHASAR NEUMANN CHOIR AND SOLOISTS
BALTHASAR NEUMANN ENSEMBLE
THOMAS HENGELBROCK
“Even the Overture conjures up the atmosphere in which the People has turned its back on God: bleak and almost gruff string sonorities describe the aridity of the land and the despair of its inhabitants following a prolonged drought. It is hard to imagine a more eloquent, more dramatic or more thrilling account of the score than this, and the fact that there are times when it sounds like Bach may be taken as a compliment. Chorus and orchestra both react with remarkable agility and with a beguiling range of colours. To these may be added a team of soloists that leaves nothing to be desired. Towering above them is Michael Nagy as an Elijah both human and authoritarian and one, moreover, whose every word is intelligible. No less magnificent are those passages such as the famous Angels’ Trio, “Hebe deine Augen auf” (“Lift thine eyes to the mountains”), that are cast from members of the choir. Anyone looking for an outstanding Elijah need look no further.”
STUTTGARTER NACHRICHTEN