Mendelssohn’s Elijah
Usher Hall, 9/5/24
Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Maxim Emelyanychev, conductor, Carolyn Sampson, soprano, Rowan Pierce, soprano, Anna Stéphany, mezzo soprano, Thomas Walker, tenor, Roderick Williams, baritone
SCO Chorus, Gregory Batsleer, chorus director
The Scottish Chamber Orchestra’s 50th Anniversary season goes out with several bangs - fires from heaven, stormy billows, and some smiting – in Mendelssohn’s ‘Elijah.’ The oratorio, one of the highlights in last season’s Proms, is given an outstanding performance in the Usher Hall by the orchestra conducted by Maxim Emelyanychev, the SCO Chorus and five top-class soloists, with Roderick Williams as the Prophet Elijah. An immediate success at its first performance in Birmingham in 1845, it soon became a staple of amateur choral societies, but despite some stellar recordings in the last 50 years, it’s less often performed now. Bryn Terfel gave a memorable performance at the Edinburgh International Festival a number of years ago and his stentorian voice and the might of the Festival Chorus shook up the work from its – undeserved – fusty reputation. Maxim and Roderick Williams go further, focusing also on the vulnerability which lies beneath Elijah’s apparent certainty. We’re made aware too of the fickleness of the crowd, turning from God to Baal and back again, and then against Elijah. Mendelssohn’s work in ‘rehabilitating’ Bach’s ‘Matthew Passion’ is an obvious influence on these scenes and also on the prophet’s dramatic exchanges with the Widow who has lost her son, with the Youth, and with Jezabel.
Maxim, as ever, controls the sound of his performance with the placement of the musicians. The large string section, under guest leader, Pablo Hernon, is set out conventionally except that the four double basses are separated, with two players book-ending either side of the orchestra. The two on the right (good to see Adrian Bornet again) are set behind the timpani. The woodwinds are outnumbered by the brass - four natural horns, two natural trumpets, three trombones, and the wonderful serpent instrument, the ophicleide, played by Tony George. Behind the extended chorus, Michael Bawtree plays the Usher Hall organ. The soloists are seated at the side of the stage, and move to centre stage to sing their roles – a minor detail which helps emphasise the drama.
Mendelssohn throws us into the action with Elijah’s brass-accompanied solo, asking God to provide a drought. The short overture leads into a pounding rhythmic chorus, accompanied by full orchestra. The tenor, Thomas Wilson, as Obadiah has his best number right away, and with sensitive accompaniment, he makes the most of the lyrical ‘If with all your heart you truly seek me.’ Elijah’s first test is an intimate one, when he responds to the Widow who has lost her son. With woodwind and strings accompanying the recitative, William’s warm tones establish him as a calm intermediary for the Widow – an assured, sympathetic performance by Carolyn Sampson. The lyrical chorus ‘Blessed are the men who fear him’ acts as a reassuring coda to this section.
Elijah now faces a greater challenge: the people have turned to the false God, Baal, because Elijah has failed to deliver them from the drought. In this section the dramatic tension is raised by the power of the orchestra and chorus, as Elijah tackles the supporters of Baal. Their dance-like chorus, ‘Hear and answer’ becomes threatening and ends with several short outbursts separated by sudden silences. Calm is restored by Elijah’s prayer ‘Lord God of Israel,’ one of the key moments of the work, followed by the choir’s pianissimo ‘Cast thy burden upon the lord’ with woodwind accompaniment. This section, like some others marked ‘quartet’, are sung very effectively by a semichorus. Unexpectedly as Elijah seems to have restored the people to God, he savagely turns on the priests of Baal and orders them to be slain. The brutality of this Old Testament revenge and the prophet’s assertion that ‘God is angry with the wicked every day’ are backed up by the orchestra and chorus’s furious response. Soloist, chorus and orchestra, especially the brass sections, play magnificently here as Maxim rouses them to these devastating effects.
Soprano Rowan Pierce ascends the choir steps as the Youth sent by Elijah to look for signs of rain, as the drought continues. Her clear high soprano, with minimal violin, oboe and flute accompaniment contrasts with the increasing fervour of Elijah’s prayers. Finally she sees ‘a little cloud like a man’s hand’ and the Act ends with a dotted rhythm rejoicing by the choir and full orchestra. The Usher Hall organ adds splendid oomph to these big moments.
Act 2 begins with some more stirring music. Carolyn Sampson’s soprano gleams in a fine extended aria, ‘Hear ye Israel’ which ends resolutely with trumpet accompaniment, as the choir continues with ‘Be not afraid’, an inspiring martial anthem, like those by Charles Wesley which the original choristers must often have heard. (A secular song by Mendelssohn became the tune for Wesley’s ‘Hark the Herald Angels Sing’). Anna Stéphany is a vengeful Jezebel, who, in impassioned exchanges with the choir, turns them against Elijah. Their extended chorus with primitive rhythms, as they call for the slaughter of the prophet, is in complete contrast to the preceding evangelical march.
Elijah, warned by Obidiah, flees to the wilderness and in a recitative, reminiscent of Christ in the garden of Gethsemane, reaches his lowest ebb, and wishes to die. Roderick Williams is at his best here, exploring the prophet’s inner torment, the bleakness of his tone in the final section contrasted with the cello accompaniment. A capella angels – excellent choir sopranos - and the reassuring chorus ‘He is watching over Israel’ lull Elijah’s sleep and Anna Stéphany, in the very different role of the Angel urges patience in ‘O rest in the Lord,’ with its flute obbligato trilling over her final phrase. Elijah eventually takes courage to live out his life in patience, and after his final oboe-accompanied aria, the rest of his life is briskly described in a chorus celebrating his ascension to heaven in ‘a fiery chariot.’ Its tricky rhythm sees further sterling work from Louise Lewis Goodwin on timpani, and a wonderful brassy crescendo. The end of the oratorio, with reflective rather than dramatic writing, is perhaps the least satisfactory, although there’s still room for some fine choral work in a resounding tutti conclusion.
The applause, understandably, goes on for some time. Roderick Williams has a well-deserved solo bow, before the other splendid soloists, and the SCO Chorus, prepared so well by their director, Gregory Batsleer, for their major role in this performance, receive prolonged cheers. As of course do the orchestra and conductor. ‘Maxim is magic’ says a young woman chorister as she rushes out to meet her mother at the bus stop, and no-one will disagree with that!
The SCO will look back with pride on their 50th Anniversary season which ‘Elijah’ has brought to a terrific close. See the SCO website for summer concerts throughout Scotland, including the East Neuk Festival in early July, and Edinburgh International Festival appearances in August, in ‘Cosi Fan Tutte’, ‘Carmen’ and in the Queen’s Hall.
