Mendelssohn's Elijah once rivalled Messiah as the most popular of all the great Oratorios so admired by the Victorians, but it is a less common concert item these days. In keeping with their policy of exploring the major landmarks of the choral repertoire, the City of Glasgow Chorus undertook the work at this rather ambitious choice of venue, and if the swathes of empty seats did nothing for the atmosphere, the performances carried sufficient conviction.
The polished but rather conventional style of the music was clearly much to the choristers' liking, and they sounded richer and more balanced than in some of their recent endeavours, both in the big choruses, and where Mendelssohn called upon smaller sub-divisions of the choir, as in the effective use of the sopranos in Lift thine eyes to the mountains.
The four soloists played their part in making the performance a success. Stephen Holloway was a dignified if slightly undercharacterised Elijah, while Judith Lovat impressed with her finely judged combination of passion and control, notably in the opening aria of the second half, Hear ye, Israel. Margaret McDonald handled the contrasting roles of Angel and Jezebel with equal aplomb, David Newman took on a similarly split characterisation as Obadiah and Ahab, while Charles Devlin filled the cameo role of The Boy.
The singers were strongly supported by the sharply-pointed playing of a modestly-sized version of the Orchestra of Scottish Opera under guest conductor Martin Merry. All played their part in a solid performance of the work which Mendelssohn considered his greatest achievement.
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