Mendelssohn, Felix - Elias (2CD) - Herreweghe, Philippe

---

---

'I was won over by the sheer beauty of the reading expressed in choral singing of he utmost accuracy and by orchestral playing in which every strand is clear...The soloists are happily on a par with the choir and orchestra. Salomaa is a deeply expressive, vital and exact Elijah...Isokoski sings the most radiantly attractive 'Höre, Israel' since Ameling and makes an urgent Widow. John Mark Ainsley is a great improvement on his Teldec counterpart...Monica Groop is a euphonius, fluent alto soloist. The recording, made in Metz Arsenal, is warm and properly balanced...It matches the flowing, unsentimental yet always sensitive conducting of Herreweghe, who ensures that the interpretation is all of a piece. In consequence this is a version that must lie alongside those of Masur and Sawallisch as a recommendation' Alan Blyth Gramophone [11/1993]