Mendelssohn: Elijah, Op. 70 - McGill Symphony Orchestra

Elijah, Op. 70 by Felix Mendelssohn (1809 - 1847)
Jean-Sébastien Vallée, chef/conductor
McGill Symphony Orchestra - Alexis Hauser, directeur artistique / artistic director
Schulich Singers - Jean-Sébastien Vallée, directeur artistique / artistic director
McGill Concert Choir - Jean-Sébastien Vallée, directeur artistique / artistic director
University Chorus - Jean-Sébastien Vallée, directeur artistique / artistic director
Recorded on Saturday, April 7, 2018 at Église Sainte-Jean-Baptiste, Montreal.
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The Schulich School of Music of McGill University is located in downtown Montreal, one of Canada's most vibrant and international cities. We're home to a diverse community of performers, composers, music theorists, musicologists, educators, scientists and engineers. We offer more than 45 undergraduate, graduate and professional programs and present hundreds of public events each year.

[@finolahepworth2610]

Dramatic ,Moving Beautiful. Thank you everyone especially All Praise to God.

[@scottbyron1339]

174 years old and still underrated! Thank you!

[@vincentcerasoli5969]

We did Elijah when I was in undergrad. It took us 9 months of rehearsals. It was agony. And I loved it.

[@kristineclifford3004]

9 MONTHS? Wow!

[@carinamoses2704]

The way Mendelssohn uses the violin to add shading and accent is incredible. His string instrumentation is consistently glorious. Thank you so much for sharing.

[@warren1698]

BEAUTIFUL MUSIC, MY COLLEGE CHOIR SANG THIS WONDERFUL MUSIC.

[@nassauleaf]

So many memories from college choir..beautiful story of Elijah!

[@carinamoses2704]

Wow, there's such beautiful dexterity, diversity, and density of tone as well as instrumentation. The musicians play so skillfully and the composition is heavenly and sublime.

[@fredrickearl6687]

Forgive me: a musician, singer--I noticed the applause protocol for the soloists and instrumentalists was there; but no recognition of the chorus? Hope they've been acknowledged by the end of the second movement. Blessings--in Christ.

[@tcharles2466]

A beautiful performance of a work that I love - and know so well - thank you for posting! 🇺🇦 (sorry that I'm over three years late in posting this comment!)

[@matteopascazio1927]

Excellent performance, high-quality singing and playing. Mendelssohn is my favorite, his music is lovely.

[@carinamoses2704]

Really beautiful and exceptional, and incredibly grand music: thank you for sharing. The Prophet Elijah is rightly honored. A grand music to represent a grand Prophet!

[@fredrickearl6687]

Wasn't he (Elijah) translated? Without tasting death; according to the received text, few be with the Saviour until the resurrection unto eternal life at His second coming. Blessings--in Christ!

[@dukestravels1861]

@@fredrickearl6687True

[@ClarenceMaloney]

A blissful evening listening to this and moving with it body and mind. Thanks, McGill. I sang in it in in Kodaikanal, a mountain town in South India where in Season we had many missionaries and other foreigners who could sing- foreigners. And we did Mendelssohn's St Paul too, which I later conducted with a group of foreigners working in Bangladesh-- if you can believe it!

[@paulinewarjri705]

Kodi was such a wonderful place for all kinds of music Clarence!

[@lijahfinch3949]

Goosebumps!!!

[@AntonioFormaro]

Mendelsssohn GENIUS !! Supreme performance❤

[@oluwasolaoluwaseyi9189]

awesome performance......... God bless

[@sea7kenp]

Bravo! Awesome Performance!

[@bernadettevanderploeg9551]

WONDERFUL, JUST WONDERFUL 🙏🙏

[@davidmorrison5200]

Thank you for this thoughtful performance. This is my favorite oratorio. I was privileged to sing the Elijah role many years ago with choir and orchestra with a college and community choir and orchestra. At the time, I was studying with Dr. Marion Hall at Drake University.

[@americanidiot5563]

To perform this masterpiece and be a part of it is an incredible pleasure!

[@theta452]

I sang alto in this in a high school I attended in the 70s and cannot remember what it sounded like now so listening to this to see if I can recall any of it! How does one forget?

[@fredrickearl6687]

Father sang in the Elijah chorus when I was a boy. I still LOVE it! Thanksgiving blessings--in Christ!

[@fredrickearl6687]

Wish I had dad's copy of the score: OR SUBTITLES FOR THE MESSAGE IN WORD.

[@JohnSmith-oe5kx]

It is a wonderful experience! I once had the very small--but challenging--role of The Youth. I had to travel from Montreal to Plattsburgh because the symphony did not have a treble . Everything went wonderfully, but my voice broke about a week afterward. Talk about cutting it close! 😂

[@quintoneverest4853]

Alleluia!!!

[@fredrickearl6687]

Amen.

[@PauloCesarMaiadeAguiar]

Amazinh Performances .Many thanks for to share this !!!!

[@thompsonchurchillchizi1753]

Tis superb ✌️

[@noneyabidnes4726]

Mendelssohn was merely the vessel

[@johnswartz9687]

My voice teacher always said you have to sing this part with great emotion. This is almost damn opera kid

[@danmoran454]

@ John Swartz: Well, you should have gone to the Chorus Director and asked him or her if they agreed with your voice teacher. I suspect they would not. With my experience with voice teachers (I studied with two), everything is about screaming opera with excessive wobbling vibrato (often used to cover up pitch and vocal problems), even with the Chorus. In this performance, fortunately the Chorus sings with perfect intonation (a term that opera has never heard). Elias is a sacred, dramatic oratorio, having nothing to do with opera. Opera involves costuming and scenery. Oratorio has none of that. Just because "opera divas" are often dragged in to scream out the solo passages -- rather than used the best choristers for those parts -- most people confuse oratorio with opera, unfortunately.

[@johnswartz9687]

@@danmoran454 the choral director has little to do with the soloists. If you believe opera is merely screaming you have no idea of the art form that opera is. I said with great emotion as a singer/musician you must be aware that I still have to sing paying attention to the dynamics written by the composer. Emotions does not mean screaming. The conductor of the work is not the choral director.

[@danmoran454]

@@johnswartz9687 Unfortunately, you missed my point entirely. I know, from my extensive Orchestra Chorus experience, that the Chorus Director has nothing to do with the soloists. The soloists (screamers) are chosen either by the conductor or orchestral management. My point was to get a different point of view from someone other than your/a voice teacher. No, I don't consider opera an art form whatsoever but that has been brainwashed into many people nevertheless, and in some cases opera is not even music. Screaming is not equal to music. Often "opera" is a stage full of screamers trying to out-scream each other and a Chorus that usually is not singing with perfect intonation -- one of the foundations of choral excellence -- as if they've never heard the term. I think of the soloists in Beethoven's Ninth (a symphony, not opera but the soloists are usually from the opera genre) and they sound like a train wreck. One trying to out-scream the other. Usually the soprano screamer wins out. I agree that emotion does not mean screaming -- it should not -- but many opera divas fail to understand that as they scream at the top of their lungs, often using wobbling vibrato to cover up pitch and vocal problems. You can't even tell what pitch they're aiming for. Usually, the conductor of the work is not the Chorus Director. That is true, only on rare occasions, which is one of the main complaints of Chorus Directors. They rarely get to conduct the performance.

[@danmoran454]

@@johnswartz9687 I meant to say yesterday that your voice teacher has nothing to do with the soloists chosen either -- so why would you care what s/he says? -- just like the Chorus Director doesn't.

[@janebrown7231]

@@johnswartz9687 Well said. Your voice teacher was right about the emotion needed to sing this, and the emotion required for opera, one of the great art forms. It's inevitable that not everyone will feel its beauty, and many people judge without even trying, and come up with the old cliches, usually based on past generations when excess vibrato was king, not even aware of current opera artists. The loss is theirs.

[@James_Bowie]

Simply sublime. (Tough on the conductor having to wave arms around for 2 hours.)

[@Stecer2007]

1:53:40 Then shall the Righteous Shine Forth.....in memory of Gordon Bell, Barrow in Furness Salvation Army.

[@elijahmiller7658]

Woe

[@mrbrianmccarthy]

Usually I think Mendelssohn's music is played too fast---but here, speed helps. I advise everyone to listen to this piece at 1.25 speed. Sounds better. OOtherwise it drags---especially that intro. Tempo is everything , folks.

[@aidananderson6437]

1:22:07

[@danielmadeson311]

12:00

[@deedeescantlebury253]

Whence cometh my help

[@MrBrandenBurn]

1:00:07