Ingenious planning has brought together two little-known Christmas works, each written when its composer was 22 years old (to be precise, Mendelssohn's chorale-cantata—not ''choral cantata'', as Capriccio has it—was completed a week before his 22nd birthday, but no matter). What may come as a surprise, in view of the sheer genius Mendelssohn had shown in his teens, is that the Saint-Saens piece (composed shortly after his appointment as organist at the Madeleine) is much the more interesting of the two. His Christmas Oratorio begins with what he called a ''prelude dans le style de Seb. Bach''—which constitutes a wry commentary on the ignorance of Bach then still prevalent. Its only Bachian resemblance is in its pastoral siciliano rhythm (which reappears in the penultimate number of the work), it is otherwise a pretty, Gounod-esque cantilena. In what follows there is no Evangelist or narrative thread: there is instead a sequence of typically French lyrical movements, increasing in texture from solos to a quintet, with occasional choral interventions. In only one section (''Why do the heathens rage?'') does the mood change to the dramatic (revealing some rawness in the chorus tenors' tone): at the other extreme are the sugary harp arpeggios accompanying the well-written trio. Martin Flamig produces a performance which, thanks to a very acceptable team of soloists, is markedly superior to that in a previous recording of the work from Lyon (Arion ARN38621, 1/83), but it was a mistake to have permitted the use of the German pronunciation of Latin in a Gallic composition.
Young Mendelssohn's cantata, written in Rome after visiting the monastery in which Luther had stayed, consists of three treatments of Luther's Christmas hymn, interleaved with solos (not, it must be admitted, his most inspired) for soprano and baritone. The solos are in Mendelssohn's own romantic style: the choral movements, especially the first with its joyous trumpets and drums, clearly have Bach in mind. The Dresden boys throw themselves lustily into this jubilation; but the use of a less unvarying forte tone would have made for a more desirable performance.'