Mendelssohn: Elijah, Op. 70, MWV A 25 (Excerpts) Munich Radio Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Chorus & Howard Arman

• Felix Mendelssohn (1809 - 1847): Elijah, Op. 70, MWV A 25 (Excerpts):
• 1 Mendelssohn: Elijah, Op. 70, MWV A 25 (Excerpts): So wahr der Herr, der Gott Israels, lebet 00:52
• 2 Mendelssohn: Elijah, Op. 70, MWV A 25 (Excerpts): Overture 03:29
• 3 Mendelssohn: Elijah, Op. 70, MWV A 25 (Excerpts): No. 1, Hilf, Herr! - Die Tiefe ist versieget! 03:59
• 4 Mendelssohn: Elijah, Op. 70, MWV A 25 (Excerpts): No. 2, Herr, höre unser Gebet - Zion streckt unsere Hände aus 02:10
• 5 Mendelssohn: Elijah, Op. 70, MWV A 25 (Excerpts): No. 7, Denn er hat seinen Engeln befohlen über dir - Nun auch der Bach vertrocknet ist 03:59
• 6 Mendelssohn: Elijah, Op. 70, MWV A 25 (Excerpts): No. 8, Was hast du an mir getan - Hilf mir, du Mann Gottes 06:25
• 7 Mendelssohn: Elijah, Op. 70, MWV A 25 (Excerpts): No. 9, Wohl dem, der den Herrn fürchtet 02:58
• 8 Mendelssohn: Elijah, Op. 70, MWV A 25 (Excerpts): No. 16, Der du deine Diener machst zu Geistern - das Feuer fiel herab 02:50
• 9 Mendelssohn: Elijah, Op. 70, MWV A 25 (Excerpts): No. 17, Ist nicht des Herrn Wort wie ein Feuer 02:09
• 10 Mendelssohn: Elijah, Op. 70, MWV A 25 (Excerpts): No. 18, Weh ihnen, dass sie von mir weichen! 02:19
• 11 Mendelssohn: Elijah, Op. 70, MWV A 25 (Excerpts): No. 19, Hilf deinem Volk - Öffne den Himmel 05:10
• 12 Mendelssohn: Elijah, Op. 70, MWV A 25 (Excerpts): No. 20, Dank sei dir, Gott 03:53
• 13 Mendelssohn: Elijah, Op. 70, MWV A 25 (Excerpts): No. 21, Höre, Israel - so spricht der Herr - Ich bin euer Tröster 05:32
• 14 Mendelssohn: Elijah, Op. 70, MWV A 25 (Excerpts): No. 22, Fürchte dich nicht 04:02
• 15 Mendelssohn: Elijah, Op. 70, MWV A 25 (Excerpts): No. 23, Der Herr hat dich erhoben aus dem Volk - Wir haben es gehört 03:53
• 16 Mendelssohn: Elijah, Op. 70, MWV A 25 (Excerpts): No. 24, Wehe ihm, er muss sterben! 01:45
• 17 Mendelssohn: Elijah, Op. 70, MWV A 25 (Excerpts): No. 31, Sei stille dem Herrn 02:39
• 18 Mendelssohn: Elijah, Op. 70, MWV A 25 (Excerpts): No. 32, Wer bis an das Ende beharrt 02:27
• 19 Mendelssohn: Elijah, Op. 70, MWV A 25 (Excerpts): No. 35, Seraphim standen über ihm - Heilig ist Gott der Herr Zebaoth 02:40
• 20 Mendelssohn: Elijah, Op. 70, MWV A 25 (Excerpts): No. 36, Gehe wiederum hinab! 01:20
• 21 Mendelssohn: Elijah, Op. 70, MWV A 25 (Excerpts): No. 37, Ja, es sollen wohl Berge weichen 02:31
• 22 Mendelssohn: Elijah, Op. 70, MWV A 25 (Excerpts): No. 38, Und der Prophet Elias brach hervor wie ein Feuer 02:49
• 23 Mendelssohn: Elijah, Op. 70, MWV A 25 (Excerpts): No. 42, Alsdann wird euer Licht hervorbrechen 03:20
• Total Runtime 01:13:11

Info for Mendelssohn: Elijah, Op. 70, MWV A 25 (Excerpts)

This BR-KLASSIK digital release offers excerpts from Mendelssohn's popular oratorio, rehearsed and performed in the summer of 2022 as part of the 11th International Meistersinger Academy (IMA) in Neumarkt in der Oberpfalz. The studio recordings were produced on June 25, 2022 in Studio 1 of the Bayerischer Rundfunk. Graduates of the International Meistersinger Academy and the Bavarian Radio Chorus sing, accompanied by the Münchner Rundfunkorchester conducted by Howard Arman.

Mendelssohn's "Elijah" can be regarded as the most important oratorio of the 19th century. After Haydn's "Creation", it found the widest circulation among the choral societies of the time, even surpassing the impact of Mendelssohn's own "St. Paul", which was composed ten years earlier. With his "Elijah" the composer succeeded in creating a work of great drama and effect. Using harmony and scoring that were highly modern at the time, he achieved vivid depictions of nature accompanied by deeply moving simplicity in the work’s arias. The oratorio contains scenically vivid effects as well as lyrical cantilenas. After Haydn's singular contributions to the genre - the "Creation" and the "Seasons" - the oratorio could celebrate itself one last time.

On March 11, 1829, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, at the age of just twenty, had performed Bach's "St Matthew Passion" with the Berlin Sing-Akademie for the first time since the composer's death. Quite apart from what it meant for the Bach tradition, this concert represented a milestone in Mendelssohn’s own creative exploration of the oratorio genre, which was to find expression in four major sacred works. "St. Paul" op. 36 (1836) stands at the beginning as a major achievement; with "Elijah" op. 70 (1846) he achieved mastery of the genre; he was unable to complete a "Christ" op. 97 (1847); and between these works, he wrote the second symphony op. 52 "Lobgesang" (1840) as a symphonic cantata – an intermediate form of symphony and oratorio.

In the summer of 2022, for the eleventh time, the city of Neumarkt in der Oberpfalz hosted the International Meistersinger Academy (IMA), directed by Edith Wiens. Every year, highly talented singers from all over the world come to Neumarkt to further their careers in the fields of opera and song in the unique work atmosphere of this summer academy. Mendelssohn's oratorio "Elijah" was on the programme for the tenth anniversary concert. The soloists are all former participants of the IMA in Neumarkt, and now perform at major opera houses.

Eirin Rognerud, soprano
Jessica Niles, soprano
Kelsey Lauritano, mezzo-soprano
Ema Nikolovska, mezzo-soprano
James Ley, tenor
Moon Yung Oh, tenor
Hubert Zapiór, baritone
Werner Rollenmüller, bass
Jusung Gabriel Park, bass-baritone
Munich Radio Orchestra
Bavarian Radio Choir
Howard Arman, conductor

Howard Arman
Versatility is one of the principal artistic concerns of London-born conductor, chorus master and composer Howard Arman, who since the autumn of 2016 has been the artistic director of the Bavarian Radio Chorus. As a result he has made a name for himself in every area of classical music, no matter what the period, genre or form, from Baroque concertos performed according to the tenets of historically informed performance practice to choral symphonies, operas, jazz programmes and singalong concerts that he himself presents and that are designed to appeal to the widest possible audiences. For many years Howard Arman has been professor of orchestral conducting at the Lucerne School of Music.

Howard Arman studied at Trinity College of Music in London before working with a number of leading English ensembles and quickly extending his field of activity to mainland Europe. In Germany he has worked with the choirs of NDR, SWR and RIAS Berlin. From 1983 to 2000 he conducted the Salzburg Bach Choir and from 1998 to 2013 was artistic director of the MDR Choir in Leipzig. He first appeared at the Salzburg Festival in 1995. In addition to his international commitments as a choral and orchestral conductor he has also conducted acclaimed productions at opera houses in Germany, Austria, Italy and Switzerland.

He received the Handel Music Prize for reshaping the Handel Festival Orchestra on the occasion of its production of Orlando in 1996. From 2011 to July 2016 he was music director of the Lucerne Theatre. Among the opera productions that he conducted during that time were Handel’s Hercules, Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, Rossini’s La Cenerentola, Bizet’s Carmen and Richard Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos. In addition he conducted Metamorphosen, a work of dance theatre featuring his own compositions, and the world premiere of Johannes Maria Staud’s Die Antilope.

Beginning in 2002 Howard Arman was a frequent guest conductor of the Bavarian Radio Chorus. As the chorus’s principal conductor, he has produced several Christmas Classics and the ‘cOHRwürmer’ sing-along concerts and expanded its programme to include Handel’s rarely heard Occasional Oratorio as well as Verdi’s Four Sacred Pieces, Rossini’s Stabat mater, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and the Monteverdi Vespers.

Arman’s lengthy discography contains recordings of Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil and Graun’s Der Tod Jesu. Among his CD recordings with the Bavarian Radio Chorus are Handel’s Occasional Oratorio, Mozart’s C-minor Mass, Mendelssohn’s psalms, the Bach motets and the Christmas programmes (More) Christmas Surprises and Joy to the World.

Booklet for Mendelssohn: Elijah, Op. 70, MWV A 25 (Excerpts)