Antonio Pappano
is a conductor with a primarily operatic background, and one can hear it in this live recording of
Mendelssohn
's
Elijah, Op. 70
, captured in full fidelity by the engineers of the
London Symphony Orchestra
LSO Live
label.
Pappano
brings a good deal of dramatic flair to the music, and he combines well-known singers with younger figures, as indeed might have been done in
's own time. The stars are very strong; bass-baritone
Gerald Finley
is a persuasive Elijah, and
Sarah Connolly
and
Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha
are an absorbing pair in the women's solo parts. Indeed, there is a hint here that
Rangwanasha
may be in the running for
Connolly
's general slice of the market, but there is more to
's reading than operatic singing. His substantial but not over-hefty
London Symphony Chorus
has the flavor of the groups that would have sung at a big 19th century British choir festival, and the singers have a pleasing sense of knowing what they are singing about. This is true even with the unorthodox pronunciation of "Baal" in the first act (this is how bluegrass singers pronounce it; hear
Claire Lynch
's "Who Do You Know"). The entire performance is substantial, with no hint of historical performance economizing, but also without the thickness this work is sometimes given. A triumph for the soloists, for the engineers, and most of all, for
, who has settled deeply into his role as a symphonic conductor. ~ James Manheim