BaL 28.01.12 Mendelssohn's Elijah

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

9.30 Building a Library: Iain Burnside with a personal recommendation from recordings of Mendelssohn's Elijah

Available versions:
Soile Isokoski, Monica Groop, John Mark Ainsley, Sandrine Piau & Matthias Goerne, La Chapelle Royale, Collegium Vocale Gent & Orchestre des Champs-Elysées, Philippe Herreweghe

Edith Wiens (soprano), Carolyn Watkinson (alto), Keith Lewis (tenor), Benjamin Luxon (bass), Graziela Lé (soprano) & Lia Altavilla (soprano), Gulbenkian Choir and Orchestra, Lisbon, Michel Corboz

Balthasar Hens (treble), Alexandra Coku (soprano), Monica Groop (alto), Claes H. Ahnsjö (tenor) & Peter Lika (baritone), Figuralchor Frankfurt, Frankfurter Singakademie & Frankfurter Opernhaus-und Museumsorchester, Sylvain Cambreling

Vladimir Baikov (Elijah), Yana Besyaduinskaya (Widow), Oksana Lesnichaya (Soprano II), Svetlana Trifonova (Angel), Ella Feighinova (Angel), Youlia Pronyaeva (Queen), Andrey Dounaev (King Akhav, Avidy), Dmitriy Sidorov (Adolescent)Moscow Conservatoire Chorus, Moscow Conservatoire Grand Hall Symphony Orchestra, Gennadi Rozhdestvensky.

Willard White, Rosalind Plowright, Linda Finnie, Arthur Davies, London Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, Richard Hickox

Bryn Terfel, Renée Fleming, Patricia Bardon, John Mark Ainsley, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Edinburgh Festival Chorus, Paul Daniel

Harold Williams, Parry Jones, Isobel Baillie, Clara Serena, Tom Purvis, BBC National Chorus & Orchestra, Stanford Robinson

Christine Schäfer (soprano), Cornelia Kallisch (contralto), Michael Schade (tenor), Wolfgang Schöne (bass),Stuttgart Gächinger Kantorei Choir; Stuttgart Bach Collegium Orchestra, Helmuth Rilling

Thomas Hampson (baritone - Elijah), Barbara Bonney (soprano), Henriette Schellenberg (soprano), Reid Bartelme (treble), Marietta Simpson (mezzo), Florence Quivar (mezzo), Jerry Hadley (tenor), Richard Clement (tenor), Thomas Paul (bass), Atlanta Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, Robert Shaw

Letizia Scherrer (soprano), Renée Morloc (mezzo), Werner Gura (tenor), Michael Volle (baritone), Kammerchor Stuttgart & Klassische Philharmonie Stuttgart, Frieder Bernius

Christian Gerhaher (baritone), Sibylla Rubens (soprano), Nathalie Stutzmann (contralto), James Taylor (tenor), Gewandhauskammerchor, Gewandhauschor, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Herbert Blomstedt

Michael Volle (bass), Andrea Rost (soprano), Marjana Lipovsek (alto), Herbert Lippert (tenor), Letizia Scherrer (soprano), Thomas Cooley (tenor) & Barbara Fleckenstein (soprano), Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks & Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Wolfgang Sawallisch

George London (Elijah), Ingrid Bjoner (soprano), Ira Malaniuk (mezzo), Waldemar Kmentt (tenor),Christoph Dohnanyi

José Van Dam (bass/Elijah), Carolyn James (soprano), Nancy Maultsby (mezzo) & Keith Lewis (tenor), Orchestre Symphonique et Choeurs du Théâtre de la Monnaie, Antonio Pappano

Arleen Auger (soprano), Gabriele Schreckenbach (contralto), Robert Tear (tenor), Siegmund Nimsgern (baritone), Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart, Helmuth Rilling.

Gürzenich Orchester Kölner Philharmoniker, James Conlon

Gwyneth Jones, Janet Baker, Nicolai Gedda & Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, New Philharmonia Orchestra & Chorus, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos.

Elsie Morison (soprano), Marjorie Thomas (contralto), Richard Lewis (tenor), John Cameron (baritone), Huddersfield Choral Society, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Malcolm Sargent

Sibylla Rubens (soprano), Rebecca Martin (mezzo), Markus Schafer (tenor), Alexander Marco-Buhrmester (baritone), Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Windsbacher Knabenchor, Karl-Friedrich Beringer

Jacqueline Delman (soprano), Norma Procter (contralto), George Maran (tenor), Bruce Boyce (baritone) & Michael Cunningham (treble), London Philharmonic Orchestra & Choir & Hampstead Parish Church Boys’ Choir, Josef Krips

Claudia Barainsky (soprano), Franziska Gottwald (mezzo), Rainer Trost (tenor), Thomas E. Bauer (baritone), Chorus Musicus Köln, Das Neue Orchester, Christoph Spering.

Ruth Ziesak (soprano), Claudia Mahnke (mezzo-soprano), Christoph Genz (tenor), Ralf Lukas (bass) & Luise Müller,
MDR Symphony Orchestra & MDR Radio Choir, Jun Märkl

[Nick Armstrong]

9.30 Building a Library: Iain Burnside with a personal recommendation from recordings of Mendelssohn's Elijah

[vinteuil]

Yes, I think this means another free morning for me - yippee! - and think of the savings...

[rauschwerk]

If it's good enough for that roster of distinguished conductors, then surely it's not rubbish (or even boring in a fine performance).

[VodkaDilc]

The Burgos with Janet Baker and Fischer-Dieskau is a long-term favourite, but I have recently enjoyed Budday's version with the Kantorii Maulbronn on K&K.

[Nick Armstrong]

If it's good enough for that roster of distinguished conductors, then surely it's not rubbish (or even boring in a fine performance).

A lot of equally or even more distinguished conductors seem to have given it a wide berth though...

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

A lot of equally or even more distinguished conductors seem to have given it a wide berth though...

Possibly they're missing out then.

[Parry1912]

Each to their own.

I've got four versions of this (Sawallisch, Blomstedt, Rilling and Hickox) so clearly my opinion is quite different.

[Nick Armstrong]

Each to their own.

I've got four versions of this (Sawallisch, Blomstedt, Rilling and Hickox) so clearly my opinion is quite different.

Indeed and what a dull world 'twould be were it otherwise.

Does your "Parry" moniker betoken a particular interest in Victoriana and Edwardiana?

[Parry1912]

Does your "Parry" moniker betoken a particular interest in Victoriana and Edwardiana?

More a love of English music and a desire to make Parry's underappreciated 5th Symphony better known.

[Nick Armstrong]

More a love of English music and a desire to make Parry's underappreciated 5th Symphony better known.

[LeMartinPecheur]

My shelves currently groan under the weight of...um, let me see...no less than one version

That's Donath, van der Nes, George, Miles; MDR-Chor Leipzig/ Israel PO/ Masur on Elatus. It's still just about available via Riverpeople EA: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mendelssohn-...7104749&sr=1-2

Sang a fair bit of Elijah in a 'Drop in and sing' thingy down here in E Cornwall a year or two back and enjoyed it enough to buy it on disc to fill a huge gap in the collection that's been there for 30+ years. Decent 'worthy' music, quite exciting in small doses, but a bit tedious in large??? Don't think I'll be pressing Order Now buttons for a 2nd set but will listen with (mild) interest.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I have just one version - the Krips version on 3 Decca Eclipse LPs, bought in 1971 from the friendliest of all record shops (in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire). I must give the discs another spin...

[verismissimo]

Decent 'worthy' music, quite exciting in small doses, but a bit tedious in large???

I wonder if a decent HIP performance/recording would make a significant difference? Herreweghe?

The Jones/Baker/Gedda/DFD/NPO/Frubeck de Burgos recording (the only one I have) has some wonderful singing, but if all too thick and muddy overall IMO.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

The Mackerras version (with Bryn Terfel looking like a refugee from The Life of Brian on the cover) is with the OAE. Terfel is terrific and invests 'Is not His word like a fire' with passion and Renée Fleming is also a fine soprano soloist. However, as a work Elijah has its longuers, especially if you're sitting on an uncomfortable cathedral pew, as I was on the last occasion I heard it live. I have never felt the need to own a second version. Perhaps next week's BaL might change that?