This is a good performance of a fine work (I’ve never understood the reasons for its relegation to the status of an also­ran)‚ but the field for competition between recordings‚ having for long been fairly open‚ is now more crowded and we need to survey it first. Of the seven currently available recordings‚ the most recent addition before the present arrival on the scene is in a category of its own. Under Leon Botstein‚ it includes on a third disc the 11 numbers which Mendelssohn withdrew from the score after its first performance. Musically‚ all are worthy of their place; the excisions had more to do with structure and what in a theatrical context would be called dramatic effect. The other recordings have various attractions‚ but it was rather hoped that the next version would have incorporated the missing 11 and so reassembled the constituents of the original score. From comparisons‚ the 1994 recording under Helmuth Rilling emerges best‚ and this is the one to be used for comparison now. On balance‚ the new recording under Hickox does well but not well enough. At certain points‚ mostly in Part 2‚ the imagination kindles: the marvellous ‘Ist das nicht’ chorus has the subdued‚ quickly growing excitement of the gossip­market‚ and ‘Sei uns gnädig’ in the same section lifts with magical lightness so that all the bass­bound weight of 19th­century oratorio slips away while the flute invites to a pagan scene of pastoral enchantment. But more often it is Rilling and his forces who ‘lift’ the music‚ while Hickox simply conducts a good performance. For instance‚ the chorus ‘Steiniget ihn!’‚ which starts so unexpectedly on an A flat note of unknown tonality when G minor is expected‚ finds vivid realisation as Rilling builds the crescendo more effectively to catch the rising tension in the crowd. Similarly in the ‘Mache dich auf!’ chorus‚ his better judged accelerando brings Part 1 to a stronger conclusion. The degree of difference is not great but it is enough to decide the issue. The role of Saul of Tarsus who becomes Paul the saint requires ideally a singer whose voice and manner are what is nowadays calledcharismatic. Neither Peter Coleman­Wright here nor Andreas Schmidt in the recording under Rilling has quite this to offer; but‚ while both perform well‚ Schmidt uses his finer voice more impressively. The tenor‚ Barry Banks‚ carries conviction but seems to be developing a style in which the finish of his phrases is disturbed by small flecks or sparks of sound extraneous to the singing­line. By the side of the broader sweep and richer colouring of Rilling’s oil­painting‚ the cavatina ‘Sei getreu bis in den Tod’ in this recording is like a pencil­drawing (a very skilful one no doubt). The contralto’s ‘Doch der Herr’ (But the Lord is mindful of his own) is similarly reduced in the new recording with Jean Rigby as soloist: a tastefully moderated‚ readily forgettable performance takes the place of what‚ with a little more generosity of tone and tempo‚ can speak warmly to the heart. Happily‚ Susan Gritton does much to level the account: her clear tones combine with a keenly expressive delivery‚ at least the equal of her German counterpart‚ Juliane Banse. Like the performance‚ the recorded sound is less vivid than that of its competitor‚ though perhaps not so as to put it at a severe disadvantage. Best advice‚ therefore‚ is to try for the Rilling on Hänssler Classic‚ which describes itself as an ‘exclusive series’. If it proves elusive as well as exclusive‚ take the Hickox‚ or the Botstein with the additional numbers. At all events‚ don’t be content to go for much longer without a Paulus.