After several interpretations that have thrown a new, dramatic light on this familiar oratorio, we return here to a more traditional view of the piece, somewhat tame and staid – in a word ‘Victorian’. There’s a place in the catalogue for such an approach when it is so cogently and firmly executed, with the well-known attributes of Shaw’s disciplined chorus and orchestra and Telarc’s truthful recording, but long before the end I wanted to return to Herreweghe’s lean, lithe way with the score or Rilling’s vital, exhilarating approach or, in a comparative version in English, Marriner’s alert responses to text and music.
The Atlanta choir certainly sing securely enough, but the effect is consistently soft-centred. The worshippers of Baal hardly sound fanatical, the uplifting choruses never take wing. It is all too polite and stiff-limbed; nor has the orchestral playing the alertness to detail found on the rival versions listed above, particularly that on the Rilling and the old Sawallisch set.
Taking only the Marriner into account where soloists are concerned, I found the Shaw version excelling just where Marriner’s is at its weakest, in the soprano department – Bonney is an urgent, appealing Widow and as expected a keen, fresh interpreter of “Hear ye, Israel”. Quivar is an involving Angel, but her tone may be too vibrant for some ears, while Hadley’s approach to the tenor solos is definitely too extrovert, even sentimental, for mine. Von Otter and Rolfe Johnson for Marriner are preferable.
However, Hampson’s Elijah is the main drawback simply because he is miscast. His soft-grained high baritone is not the voice of the fiery, philosophical prophet, and the role lies too low for him – as indeed it does, though to a lesser extent, for Thomas Allen (Marriner). Throughout, Hampson consistently lacks Allen’s authority. To be sure, there is much beautiful singing as such, especially in “For the mountains shall depart” but that isn’t enough. The Youth is sung by a very insipid treble: his counterpart on the Marriner set is superior.
The pronunciation all round is decidedly American – “commandments” with the ‘a’ as in ‘ant’. Then there are some peculiar tamperings with the text. For instance, Bonney sings “Fear thee not” while the chorus reply with the orthodox “Be not afraid”. All in all, if you want a version in English the Marriner is preferable, where the recording is rather more amenable to small surroundings than this new one, but if you want to experience the work at its most compelling, and can bear with the original German text, try the new Rilling, the old Sawallisch or the intimate Herreweghe.'