{"id":20002,"date":"2014-08-12T14:09:57","date_gmt":"2014-08-12T18:09:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/?p=20002"},"modified":"2014-08-12T14:09:57","modified_gmt":"2014-08-12T18:09:57","slug":"cd-review-mendelssohn-symphony-no-2-lobgesang","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2014\/08\/12\/cd-review-mendelssohn-symphony-no-2-lobgesang\/","title":{"rendered":"CD Review: Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 2 \u201cLobgesang\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Mendelssohn\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 2 \u201cLobgesang\u201d<\/strong>
\nChristiane Karg and Christina Landshamer, sopranos\/Michael Shade, tenor<\/strong>
\nBavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus\/Pablo Heras-Casado<\/strong>
\nHarmonia Mundi HMC 90251 (61:48)<\/strong>
\n\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mendelssohn\u2019s Symphony No. 2 is one of those odd hybrid pieces \u2013 Beethoven\u2019s Ninth Symphony is another \u2013 combining purely instrumental and choral movements. In such cases listeners are often unsure whether they are dealing with a symphony or an oratorio. But there are no laws \u2013 musical or otherwise \u2013 about such things, and its hybrid nature has certainly not affected the popularity of Beethoven\u2019s Ninth Symphony.<\/p>\n

Mendelssohn\u2019s \u201cHymn of Praise\u201d symphony is far less often played, perhaps because it lacks anything comparable to the \u201cOde to Joy\u201d tune. But it is a fine piece in its own right with lots of beautiful melody and some rousing choruses. This new recording from Munich is excellent and may win new friends for the piece. The chorus sings fantastically well, particularly in the exuberant and joyful \u201cDie Nacht ist vergangen\u201d (The night is past), the orchestra is one of the best in the world, and the soloists are good too. Special kudos to Canadian tenor Michael Schade for his sensitive work in his \u2018Watchman\u2019 aria.<\/p>\n

The 36-year-old Spanish conductor Pablo Heras-Casado obviously loves the piece and builds the climaxes with understanding and energy.<\/p>\n

But I do have some reservations. My benchmark for this symphony remains the 1972 DG recording by Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic. Compare the opening bars in the two recordings. The work opens with trombones intoning the thematic germ of the entire piece. Heras-Casado takes it at a jaunty pace then goes even faster in the main body of the first movement. Karajan, by contrast, gives the theme the weight and gravitas<\/em> it deserves and maintains a moderate tempo for the rest of the movement that allows the thematic development to unfold naturally. I hear foreshadowings of Bruckner and Schumann in the Karajan approach; Heras-Casado makes me think of Rossini, and not in a good way.<\/p>\n

My impression is that Heras-Casado is paying too much attention to his \u2018historically informed\u2019 mentors and too little to the character of the music. And, by the way, Mendelssohn\u2019s tempo marking for the first movement is \u201cMaestoso con moto.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heras-Casado is a busy man. He conducts Monteverdi\u2019s Orfeo<\/em> at the Dutch National Opera in September, and Carmen<\/em> at the Met in October. For more about this widely praised young conductor visit his website at www.pabloherascasado.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Paul E. Robinson<\/em><\/p>\n

Paul Robinson\u00a0<\/a>is the author of\u00a0Herbert von Karajan: the Maestro as Superstar<\/a>, and\u00a0Sir Georg Solti: His Life and Music<\/a>. For friends: The Art of the Conductor podcast, \u201cClassical Airs<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 2 \u201cLobgesang\u201d Christiane Karg and Christina Landshamer, sopranos\/Michael Shade, tenor Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus\/Pablo Heras-Casado Harmonia Mundi HMC 90251 (61:48) \u00a0 Mendelssohn\u2019s Symphony No. 2 is one of those odd hybrid pieces \u2013 Beethoven\u2019s Ninth Symphony is another \u2013 combining purely instrumental and choral movements. In such cases listeners are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":20003,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[117,77,51],"tags":[4819,765,4820,4817,4818,2191,4821,4112],"yst_prominent_words":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2014\/08\/Mendelssohn.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-5cC","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20002"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20002"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20002\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20007,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20002\/revisions\/20007"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20002"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=20002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}