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Track(s) taken from CDA67558

Kyrie eleison, Op posth.

composer
1846
author of text
Ordinary of the Mass

St John's College Choir Cambridge, David Hill (conductor)
Recording details: July 2005
St John's College Chapel, Cambridge, United Kingdom
Produced by Mark Brown
Engineered by Julian Millard
Release date: May 2006
Total duration: 1 minutes 25 seconds

Cover artwork: Tyrolean Girl Contemplating a Crucifix (detail) (1865). Rudolph Friedrich Wasmann (1805-1886)
Hamburger Kunsthalle, Germany / Bridgeman Images
 

Other recordings available for download

Corydon Singers, Matthew Best (conductor)

Reviews

‘Outgoing, excitingly resonant, spirited singing’ (Gramophone)

‘I doubt that you would find a better performance of Mendelssohn's sacred choral music than this. Finely executed with immaculate phrasing sensitively performed, it is clear that David Hill is leading the choir of St John's to even greater heights while it maintains its own highly individual sound. The whole production is worthy of the highest praise’ (Choir & Organ)

‘This is one special record’ (American Record Guide)

‘Some lovely—indeed memorable—performances here; including a gorgeous account of Mendelssohn's richly opulent Ave Maria, Op 23 No 2 (Allan Clayton the wonderfully yearning tenor soloist) and a gloriously magisterial Warum toben die Heiden? from Op 78 … Quentin Beer is an impressively clear and pure-voiced treble in that most famous of all treble solos—O, for the wings of a dove … the recording is a triumph. Hyperion has come up with a far more rewarding sound than either Decca or Naxos was ever able to achieve at St John's’ (International Record Review)

‘The Choir of St John's College, Cambridge, under David Hill, simply outsings all the current competition in sacred music by Mendelssohn’ (Fanfare, USA)
As is invariably the case with Mendelssohn’s final choral works, the Kyrie eleison of 1846 (the last and finest of four settings he composed) was written for the choir of the Domkirche in Berlin. The sense of inner peace and warmth of expression which characterizes this setting is remarkable from a man who was close to physical collapse. Throughout his life (with the notable exception of losing his beloved sister, Fanny, right at the end), Mendelssohn repeatedly demonstrated a transcendental ability to overcome worldly concerns and elevate his music to a more spiritual level of human experience.

from notes by Julian Haylock © 2006

Comme absolument toutes les dernières œuvres chorales de Mendelssohn, le Kyrie eleison de 1846 (le dernier et le plus beau de ses quatre Kyrie) fut écrit pour le chœur de la Domkirche de Berlin. La paix intérieure et l’expression chaleureuse qui en émanent sont remarquables chez un homme alors proche de l’effondrement physique. Durant toute son existence (à l’exception notable de la perte de sa bien-aimée sœur Fanny, à la toute fin), Mendelssohn montra très souvent une aptitude transcendentale à surmonter les choses de ce monde pour élever sa musique à un niveau davantage spirituel de l’expérience humaine.

extrait des notes rédigées par Julian Haylock © 2006
Français: Hypérion

Wie das bei allen letzten Chorwerken Mendelssohns der Fall ist, wurde auch das von 1846 stammende Kyrie eleison (die letzte und feinste der vier Vertonungen dieses Textes, die Mendelssohn schuf) für den Chor der Berliner Domkirche geschrieben. Das dieses Werk prägende Gefühl des inneren Friedens und der Gefühlswärme stellt eine beachtliche Leistung für einen Mann dar, der nahe am Zusammenbruch stand. In seinem ganzen Leben (mit der denkwürdigen Ausnahme beim Verlust seiner geliebten Schwester Fanny ganz am Ende) bewies Mendelssohn immer wieder seine transzendentale Fähigkeit, weltliche Sorgen zu überwinden und seine Musik auf eine vergeistigtere Ebene menschlicher Erfahrung zu heben.

aus dem Begleittext von Julian Haylock © 2006
Deutsch: Elke Hockings

Other albums featuring this work

Mendelssohn: Choral Music
CDH55268Download only
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