There is a strong case for having a version of Mendelssohn’s “other oratorio” on instruments of the period, even though this Profil issue does not completely fill the bill. Recording is good and the playing and singing are first-rate, with crisp ensemble. The strings play with limited vibrato, and the sound of timpani played with hard sticks is effective in its clarity. Yet the speeds chosen by Doris Hagel in a serious way defy the demands of a period performance.

As is well accounted for. Mendelssohn himself preferred fast speeds, yet in this performance Hagel chooses speeds for the Bach-like chorales that are funereal. This is a work that, far more than Elijah, Mendelssohn’s greater oratorio, owes much to Bach, not only in the chorales but in the layout of arias and choruses, which often directly echo those in Bach’s settings of the Passion. It is not surprising to find that it was written soon after the young Mendelssohn had directed the historic first performance of the St Matthew Passion since Bach’s lifetime.

Hagel loyally responds to that indebtedness, and happily she adopts fast speeds and an incisive style for the brisk numbers. Even so, the result tends to make one very aware that this is no match for Elijah, with far less striking melodies and a far less dramatic approach to setting a Bible story. Where Elijah is magnetic in its originality, dramatic from beginning to end, this account of Paulus tends to make one feel how long it is. A pity, when there is much to commend, and a version using period forces is certainly welcome.