COMPOSERS: Mendelssohn
LABELS: Erato
WORKS: Psalm 114, Op. 51; Psalm 98, Op. 91; Lass’, O Herr, mich Hülfe finden; Lauda Sion
PERFORMER: Evelyne Brunner (soprano), Nathalie Stutzmann (contralto), Naoko Ihara (alto), Alejandro Ramirez (tenor), Philippe Huttenlocher (bass); Gulbenkian Chorus & Orchestra/Michel Corboz
CATALOGUE NO: 4509-94359-2 DDD/ADD 1988/79)
Mendelssohn’s religious music is significant in terms of his own output, but from a modern viewpoint it seems impossibly embedded in the equally solid rock of Christian belief and 19th-century choral traditions. Certainly, devout Anglicans will recognise in this collection the cadences and flowing lines of innumerable Sunday morning anthems. The performances are reliably mellifluous, spaciously recorded, but rather lacking emotional bite.
Christopher Lambton