The 12th and final volume of Frieder Bernius’s grandly conceived and worthily executed Mendelssohn Edition was the Elijah reviewed last month. This St Paul is the 11th, but it is an equally fine achievement, and, listening to the work now, so soon after the more widely acclaimed masterpiece, one experiences no sense of dealing with something of lesser stature. It proclaims its musical faith – above all, in Bach – with fervour, and, since that of all musical faiths sets standards, it is inspired in itself to maintain standards worthy of the tradition it seeks to perpetuate and extend.

Once again Bernius and his forces prove themselves devotedly successful advocates. His Stuttgart choir are fresh and homogeneous in tone and intelligent in delivery: as good with words as they are with notes. The orchestra are skilled, alert and sensitive. All three soloists do good work, though the absence of a contralto means that the famous solo, “But the Lord is mindful of his own” (No 13), is taken by the soprano who copes quite ably with a tessitura which nevertheless properly requires a different type of voice. Maria Cristina Kiehr has a pure, firm oratorio voice (she specialises in early music), well suited to the “Jerusalem” solo (No 7). Werner Güra sings most beautifully in “Be thou faithful unto death” (No 40), and Michael Volle is a thoroughly sympathetic Paul if possibly a rather mild-tempered Saul.

That leads to the matter, touched upon in the Elijah review, of comparison with other recordings. My own favourite hitherto has been Rilling’s (Hänssler, 6/96), and this of Bernius is (I would think) conceived in a similar spirit but is clearer in recorded sound (compare the semiquaver passages in the Overture’s fugue). Alan Blyth remained loyal to the Masur (Philips, 2/88), but that is “out” for me on account of the ill-focused singing of its protagonist, Theo Adam. Fischer-Dieskau gives the most charismatic performance but I now find the recorded sound (Frühbeck de Burgos conducting on EMI in 1977) too reverberant. Hickox (Chandos, 9/01) does not quite “lift” and wants a more impressive Paul. Herreweghe (Harmonia Mundi, 4/96) is rich in sound and has a distinguished Paul in Matthias Goerne. This remains an option, as does the version under Leon Botstein (Arabesque, 9/98), which includes 11 additional numbers from Mendelssohn’s original manuscript. I find Bernius the most appreciative, and the sound quality of this new recording the most natural: it is the one I feel most content to live with.