These rarely-heard sacred works of Mendelssohn merit attention: two psalms a prayer for peace and a setting of the Ave Maria. Psalm 42—the composer's Op. 42, incidentally—was written in 1837 and reflects the euphoria of his honeymoon as well as his deeply-felt religious convictions. Wie der Hirsch schreit nach frischen Wasser (''Like as the hart'') is a glorious work fully representative of Mendelssohn himself despite his obvious nods in the direction of Bach and Handel. The solo soprano (Eiddwen Harrhy, in splendid form) is heard first in dialogue with an oboe; then sustained (rather too distantly, perhaps) by the female voices in a joyous forward-moving procession; then accompanied by the higher strings, in an admirably tender section, charged with emotion (''O God, my soul is cast down''), particularly at the words ''Alle deine Wasserwogen und Wellen geh'n uber mich'', and, finally, supported by the firm reassurance of a male-voice quartet (''Yet the Lord will command his loving-kindness''). The final chorus returns, in strength, to the theme of an earlier section, with the commanding imperative ''Harre auf Gott!'' (''Hope thou in God!'') compliments this time to Handel rather than to Bach.
Luther's prayer for peace Verleih uns Frieden gnadichlich compels attention with its grave, threefold statement, amplified and enhanced each time by the introduction of richer and more varied vocal and instrumental colour. In Psalm 115, Mendelssohn gives a further nod in the direction of Bach, in particular by his use of an overlying choral-melody-cum-psalm-tone. Peter Kooy's gently moving arioso, ''Er segne euch'' evokes the Old Testament ideal of human blessedness in this world. The final chorus opens with an impressive eight-part unaccompanied section that exploits to the full the combined potential of the Chapelle Royale and the Collegium Vocale. The psalm ends on a quiet note, achieving a fine balance of voices and instruments, with the pizzicato basses of the Paris Orchestral Ensemble marking time discreetly.
Mendelssohn continues to explore the possibilities of eight-part writing in his Ave Maria and produces some striking contrasts of timbre. The choirs are led by a solo tenor, Herve Lamy, whose voice has a suitably mellow quality, almost like velvet. In the second half of the prayer (''Sancta Maria...'') an effective point is made when the unison male voices are answered by the female voices in harmony, over a smoothly-running bass line. I find I can return to this record with delight, making new and exciting discoveries each time.'