Lobgesang

Masaaki Suzuki and the Bach Collegium Japan, renowned for their authoritative interpretations of the vocal music of Johann Sebastian Bach, have also received considerable critical acclaim for their recordings of major choral and orchestral works, including the "Requiem" and the "Mass in C minor" of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the "Missa Solemnis" and the "Symphony No. 9" of Beethoven and the "Ein deutsches Requiem" of Johannes Brahms. In their latest project they devote themselves to Felix Mendelssohn's symphonic cantata, Symphony No. 2 "Lobgesang". The work, composed for soloists, chorus and orchestra, consists of three symphonic movements and a final chorus - a structure that clearly recalls Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Mendelssohn, however, goes one step further by expanding the concluding section of the cantata to two-thirds of the total duration of the work. The text is based on fragments from the Bible and poems specially commissioned for the occasion. The first symphonic movements, characterized by German Romanticism, are artfully alternated with chorale-like passages and establish a deep connection with the ancient cantata tradition, which shapes the monumental finale. The work premiered at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig (the same church where Mendelssohn's idol Johann Sebastian Bach once worked) and celebrates the 400th anniversary of Gutenberg's invention of the printing press. It was immediately a great success and soon became one of the most performed works during Mendelssohn's lifetime.