Felix
Mendelssohn composed his symphony-cantata “Lobgesang” (Hymn of Praise)
originally to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the invention of
Johannes Gutenberg’s movable type printing system in 1840. The first part (that
consists of three parts) is orchestral and only after that the chorus and
soloists join in.
In this
performance, in the Helsinki Cathedral, the orchestra was Lohja City Orchestra
and the chorus was the Cantores Minores boy choir.
“Lobgesang”
is indeed a hymn of praise and from the music’s point of view rather joyful. It
contained real ear worms that I was humming when cycling home after the
concert. If you are used to listening to traditional Christmas and Easter
oratorios, “Lobgesang” seems refreshingly different. I have seen several performances
of Cantores Minores and it is always as exhilarating to notice how they are
able to sing so diverse music.
Unlike many
other oratorios, where there are four soloists of different voice types
(soprano, mezzosoprano or alto, tenor and bass/baritone), this work had only
three soloists, two of which were sopranos: Tuuli Lindeberg, Hedvig Paulig and
Tuomas Katajala. The extremely professional soloists gave the audience a chance
to listen to the finesses of the music. I especially liked the duet of the
sopranos, since it allowed me to properly hear, how two different type of
sopranos rang together.
The most to
sing – and, of course, I had nothing against that – out of the soloists had
Katajala. As you know, to listen to him two night in a row is my idea of a good
week. His voice suited also Mendelssohn and when listening to his singing it
was easy to understand, why the work is called a hymn of praise. An invigorating
start for a weekend!
Ei kommentteja:
Lähetä kommentti