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Thursday, March 16, 2017

Felix Mendelssohn - Elijah (Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos)


Information

Composer: Felix Mendelssohn

CD1:
  • (01-23) Elijah, Op. 70, Part I
CD2:
  • (01-23) Elijah, Op. 70, Part II

Gwyneth Jones, soprano
Janet Baker, contralto
Nicolai Gedda, tenor
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, baritone
Simon Woolf, soprano
Wandsworth School Boys Choir
New Philharmonia Chorus & Orchestra
Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, conductor

Date: 1968
Label: EMI


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Review

Mendelssohn was already working on Elijah when he was asked to conduct the Birmingham 1846 Summer Festival and, if possible, to bring along a new oratorio. Completed after some disagreement with the librettist (his friend Pastor Julius Schubring, who wanted to "keep down the dramatic, and raise the sacred element"), the work was translated into English by William Bartholomew for its première. Victorian English audiences wallowed in its pious sentiments and it immediately became hugely popular, a staple of choral societies second only to Handel's Messiah, though its original version never achieved the same success in Germany.

Mendelssohn said he "imagined Elijah as a real prophet through and through, of the kind we could really do with today: strong, zealous and, yes, even bad-tempered. Angry and brooding – in contrast to the riff-raff, whether of the court or of the people, and indeed in contrast to almost the whole world – and yet borne aloft as if on angel's wings." This is most apparent in the drama of Part I, in which the prophet successfully elicits Jehovah's aid to defeat the worshipers of Baal and end the drought; Part II, dealing with his indictment, escape, and ascension, is somewhat anticlimactic, but it is still effective. We no longer look to this kind of music for moral uplift, and the piece does contain some dull patches, but as a whole it remains richly satisfying, with wonderful choruses, beautiful arias, and a strong dramatic thrust.

For a long time Elijah was poorly represented on disc, but in recent years there has been a spate of recordings of both the English and the German versions. Even so, the reappearance on CDs of this 1963 performance is very welcome. Though Frühbeck is certainly well-known, it seems to me that he is somewhat under-rated, perhaps because he has never had a permanent post leading a major orchestra. I have never heard a recording of his that I did not enjoy – something I cannot say for many others – and this one is no exception. He approaches the music warmly and expansively (Kurt Mazur's recent recording is a full half-hour shorter!), shaping phrases lovingly and building to splendid climaxes, and his soloists and chorus are superb. Fischer-Dieskau dominates the whole affair, singing with resonant authority; Nicolai Gedda as Obadiah and Janet Baker as the gentle Angel and the angry Queen are in wonderful voice; and Gwyneth Jones, while tending to squawk a little, is more than adequate as the Widow and an Angel. The chorus is splendid in its diction and sonority, and the orchestra provides first-rate accompaniment throughout.

There are some who insist that the work sounds better and is more authentically performed in German, but I disagree. Bartholomew's translation, based largely on the King James Bible and supervised by the composer, works very well, and it is, after all, the form in which the piece was first heard. Other English language versions, led by Hickox (Chandos), Marriner (Philips), and Shaw (Telarc) aren't bad, but this one seems to me the most consistently effective. Among the German versions, Sawallisch's (with Theo Adam, Elly Ameling, and Peter Schreier; Philips) is probably the most convincing. But I heartily recommend this one; all I find to complain about is that the program notes are skimpy and do not provide the text. In EMI's low-priced "double fforte" series, it is an especially good buy.

-- Alexander J. Morin © 1999, Classical Net

More reviews:

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Felix Mendelssohn (3 February 1809 – 4 November 1847) was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. He was among the most popular composers of the Romantic era. Like Mozart, he was recognized early as a musical prodigy. Mendelssohn enjoyed early success in Germany, where he also revived interest in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, and in his travels throughout Europe. He was particularly well received in Britain as a composer, conductor and soloist, visited there ten times. His essentially conservative musical tastes, however, set him apart from many of his more adventurous musical contemporaries.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_Mendelssohn

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Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos (15 September 1933 – 11 June 2014) was a Spanish conductor and composer. He graduated from the Hochschule für Musik in Munich in conducting and won the Richard Strauss Prize. Frühbeck de Burgos recorded on a number of labels. He was principal conductor of the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra, Spanish National Orchestra, Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra, the Rundfunkorchester Berlin, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and of the Vienna Symphony, among others.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafael_Fr%C3%BChbeck_de_Burgos

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5 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. Please reup this wonderful version if possible. Thank you!

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  4. How about a re-up, Ronald? None of these links work. Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  5. Choose one link, copy and paste it to your browser's address bar, wait a few seconds (you may need to click 'Continue' first), then click 'Skip Ad' (or 'Get link').
    If you are asked to download or install anything, IGNORE, only download from file hosting site (mega.nz).
    If MEGA shows 'Bandwidth Limit Exceeded' message, try to create a free account.

    CD1 http://fumacrom.com/33FhW
    CD2 http://fumacrom.com/33FhX
    or
    CD1 https://uii.io/LnmbBmh
    CD2 https://uii.io/iocj0
    or
    CD1 https://exe.io/sOmwnbHf
    CD2 https://exe.io/yIoXY

    ReplyDelete