Mendelssohn’s Elijah: a music review by Shirley Politzer
The Wedding March, which so many happy couples have walked down the aisle to, was composed by Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, who Queen Victoria described as ‘the greatest musical genius since Mozart’ and ‘the most amiable man.’
The Festival Choir with the Sydney Philharmonia Orchestra
He was quite worshipped by those who knew him intimately and was a child prodigy.
In 1846, at the age of 37, Mendelssohn, whose father converted from Judaism to Christianity, premiered his oratorio, Elijah, very successfully to an ecstatic audience of 2,000 people at the Birmingham Festival. Unfortunately, Mendelssohn died from a series of strokes only a year later.
In the title role, at the Sydney Opera House, bass-baritone Teddy Tahu Rhodes stood tall on the back of the stage between the orchestra and choir as the grand and mighty prophet, with his powerful and dramatic voice depicting a turbulent time in Israel’s history.
The people of Israel had turned their backs on G-d and were worshipping idols. As in the Old Testament story, Elijah was sent to show the people the evil of their ways and encourage them to return to the Lord.
Teddy Tahu Rhodes
This “bigger than Ben Hur” drama was created by the Festival Choir with the Sydney Philharmonia Orchestra, performing to a capacity crowd and led capably and with great precision and control by the conductor, Artistic and Music Director Brett Weymark. The wonderful orchestra, including the organ, filled the concert hall with a rich sound. Still, one of my favourite moments was “May it rain”, with the orchestra playing very gently, allowing Tahu Rhodes’s voice to float in the air so lightly over them.
Included in the drama was an excellent lineup of the voices of Celeste Lazarenko, soprano, singing a variety of roles, Sian Sharp, Australian mezzo-soprano and Andrew Goodwin, tenor, all with expressive and rich tones across their full vocal range. Lazarenko and Sharp blended perfectly in their duets.
The audience was hit with force by the powerful 400-strong choir, especially at the beginning with “Help Lord” and continuing their vocal explosions as needed throughout the oratorio to the climactic finale with Elijah ascending by “fiery chariot and fiery horses” “by a whirlwind to heaven”.
By contrast, near the end of Part One, 13-year-old St Andrews School student Charlie Swan stood perched up in the organ gallery with the organist David Drury. In this Old Testament story, he plays the role of the Youth who is sent up the mountain twice to report on the rain clouds to break the drought and famine the Israelites were suffering from. The news is not good till the third time when Swan’s angelic voice brings news that “a little cloud ariseth now…” and there is finally hope and gratefulness to G-d for the rain.
Weymark lent a theatrical spark by spreading singers around the hall, delighting the audience who found that they had members from the Pacific Opera Studio singing near them. In this octet, four men and four women sang in duet, trio and quartet combinations, also moving around the stage and creating interesting stereo effects.
Mendelssohn’s Elijah has a strong place in Sydney’s musical history, having been partly sampled in the music festival to open the Great Hall at Sydney University in 1859, which prompted a full performance the following year, a mere 16 years after the premiere.
The audience appreciated this rousing performance (in English- it also has German lyrics), with its emotional musical rollercoaster exploring themes of faith, redemption and the power of divine intervention.
Performance by Sydney Philharmonia Choirs at the Sydney Opera House 18/5/24
