Mendelssohn: Paulus, Op. 36 (St Paul)

Chandos is very pleased to announce the return of Mendelssohn’s St Paulus (sung in German) to the Chandos catalogue. Its re-issue to Chandos Classics places this acclaimed recording at a highly competitive price, and timed to coincide with the composer’s anniversary celebrations.

On the original release, the recording acquired such comments as ‘Not only is the musicianship impressive throughout, the approach is brisk and businesslike, with no hint of the sentimentality which can all too easily dog Mendelssohn.’ (The Organ)

‘Another superb performance from Hickox, who gets a quartet of tremendous soloists and a first-rate orchestra and chorus… One of this year’s musts.’ (Cathedral Music)

This recording has iconic artists such as: Juliane Banse (Soprano), Ingeborg Danz (Alto), Michael Schade (Tenor), Andreas Schmidt (Bass), who are accompanied by the Gächinger Kantorei Stuttgart, Prager Kammerchor, and the Tschechische Philharmonie all under the expert baton of maestro Helmuth Rilling.

To celebrate Mendelssohn’s bicentenary Profil are releasing Paulus op.36. Both Paulus and Elijah are two oratorios that Mendelssohn is mostly remembered for. Paulus is regarded as central to the revival of the German oratorio tradition in the early 19th century, ending a period of stagnation that had resulted in the genre becoming archaic and eclectic.

In Paulus Mendelssohn created a work that underlined the great compositional traditions of Bach and Handel whilst embracing the most recent developments of his day in terms of compositional technique.

The Capella Weilburgensis conducted by Doris Hagel lead an exemplary cast.

Carus’s complete recording with Frieder Bernius and the Kammerchor Stuttgart of Felix Mendelssohn’s sacred choral works represents a magnificent act of interpretation and editing. A better recording can hardly be imagined. After the release of a box set with Mendelssohn's smaller sacred choral works in 2012, Carus now presents all of Mendelssohn's oratorios, "St.Paul" and "Elijah" aswell as the unfinished oratorio "Christus" in a box set of 4CDs at the special price of 4 for the price of 2.

As a champion of the great choral works of Johann Sebastian Bach (he re-introduced the long forgotten Matthäus Passion) Felix Mendelssohn continued the German Oratorio tradition with two magnificent works, Elias and Paulus.

These two works, of vivid and highly dramatic substance, still enjoy great popularity, and are regularly performed by both professional and amateur choral societies.

Performances in the best German tradition, by the SWR Sinfonieorchester and the Frankfurter Opernhausund Museumorchester.

All artworks in this series are watercolours by the composer.

“Mr. Hampson is a particularly fine Mendelssohn interpreter. I first encountered his voice as that of St. Paul in the 1986 Michel Corboz recording of the early oratorio “Paulus”… it is lovely and inspiriting, and when I return to it, I generally reach for Mr. Hampson’s performance, well supported by those of all concerned.” New York Times

The birthplace of the Romantic oratorio lies on the River Rhine, or to be more exact, in Düsseldorf. This is the city where Schumann, and before him Mendelssohn, worked as director of music. Both composers wrote important works for the choir of the Düsseldorf Musikverein, some of which had their first performance at the Lower Rhone Music Festival. This CD edition brings together Mendelssohn’s major choral works sung by the Düsseldorf choir, which remains closely connected to this day with the Festival’s history.