Mendelssohn's Elijah.
Posted by: u5227470736789439 on 16 May 2006
Dear Friends,
Feeling bloody grim this morning, and trying (unsuccessfully) to make myself feel better ready for work, I drank tea and listened to Elijah.
I am very fond of this old War Horse. I had a recording under F R de Bourgos as a child, even before I ever got Handel's Messiah, and then graduated to the Leipzig set under Sawalisch, which has the distinct disadvantage for me of being in German, which over-all seemed much finer. I still have the set, but it rarely comes out next to my favourite nowadays.
In 1948 Sargent set down the second ever recording on what must have been a vast set of 78s! Isobel Bailey (who also sings the boy treble part), Gladys Ripley (my favourite Alto of all time), James Johnstone (tenor), and best of all Harold Williams as Elijah. The considerable qualities of the Huddesfield Choral Society are placed within the context of the wonderful clear toned and electrifying playing playing the the Liverpool Philharmonic, which was surely the best Orchestra in Britain at that time. [The circumstances that caused this was general Wartime removal from London of the best players due to the risks of perfoming there, and the band boasted such luminaries as R Kell (clarinet), and A Pini (cello), but the list of personel is incredible].
If this work can sometimes seem an example of over upholstered Victoriana, then this performance utterly demolishes that impression. The drama of the quasi recitataive passages is more operatic than oretoric here, and is part of a continuous performing tradition right from the start of the work, first given in Birmingham by the Festival Choral Society.
On a side note it is the work I have played most often in the Orchestra. It was my first ever Oratiorio to play and actually my last also. I played it Hereford, Gloucester and Worcester Cathedrals, in Birmingham with the Festival Choral Society (in whose band I was regular bass), and several rather less stella times in Redditch, Newent, and in the Potteries. Yes I loved that work, and never once found it dull or too long.
Does anyone else here adore it, and have fond recollections of a fine performance?
All the best from Fredrik
PS: Dutton issued this wonderful set a few years ago, in a splendid open transfer that is all but perfect. I hope it is still available. Harold Williams' contibution alone makes it worth getting, though he is merely in the middle of a wonderfully subtle and alive reading from all quarters!
Feeling bloody grim this morning, and trying (unsuccessfully) to make myself feel better ready for work, I drank tea and listened to Elijah.
I am very fond of this old War Horse. I had a recording under F R de Bourgos as a child, even before I ever got Handel's Messiah, and then graduated to the Leipzig set under Sawalisch, which has the distinct disadvantage for me of being in German, which over-all seemed much finer. I still have the set, but it rarely comes out next to my favourite nowadays.
In 1948 Sargent set down the second ever recording on what must have been a vast set of 78s! Isobel Bailey (who also sings the boy treble part), Gladys Ripley (my favourite Alto of all time), James Johnstone (tenor), and best of all Harold Williams as Elijah. The considerable qualities of the Huddesfield Choral Society are placed within the context of the wonderful clear toned and electrifying playing playing the the Liverpool Philharmonic, which was surely the best Orchestra in Britain at that time. [The circumstances that caused this was general Wartime removal from London of the best players due to the risks of perfoming there, and the band boasted such luminaries as R Kell (clarinet), and A Pini (cello), but the list of personel is incredible].
If this work can sometimes seem an example of over upholstered Victoriana, then this performance utterly demolishes that impression. The drama of the quasi recitataive passages is more operatic than oretoric here, and is part of a continuous performing tradition right from the start of the work, first given in Birmingham by the Festival Choral Society.
On a side note it is the work I have played most often in the Orchestra. It was my first ever Oratiorio to play and actually my last also. I played it Hereford, Gloucester and Worcester Cathedrals, in Birmingham with the Festival Choral Society (in whose band I was regular bass), and several rather less stella times in Redditch, Newent, and in the Potteries. Yes I loved that work, and never once found it dull or too long.
Does anyone else here adore it, and have fond recollections of a fine performance?
All the best from Fredrik
PS: Dutton issued this wonderful set a few years ago, in a splendid open transfer that is all but perfect. I hope it is still available. Harold Williams' contibution alone makes it worth getting, though he is merely in the middle of a wonderfully subtle and alive reading from all quarters!