You might expect the composer of a major work that had just received wild acclaim at its first performance to relax a little and bask in his success. Not Felix Mendelssohn. Immediately after the 1846 Birmingham world premiere of his oratorio Elijah, he led critics and friends down to the banks of the nearby grimy canal and sat them among the coal and cinder heaps to discuss the revisions that he realised – even while conducting it – were needed. Those changes produced a performing edition that became a much-loved pillar in the British choral repertory for decades, but its sometimes complacent sentimentality – what George Bernard Shaw dismissed as “exquisite prettiness” – saw it fade in popularity. No doubt some ponderous performances from unwieldy choral societies also contributed to its eclipse.
Paul McCreesh, with the Gabrieli Consort, did much to rehabilitate Elijah at its last Proms outing in 2011, when he recreated that first Birmingham performance with 300 singers and an orchestra of more than 120. But its return to the Albert Hall last week, under the exciting direction of Maxim Emelyanychev (Prom 19), showed that it can be even more effective with smaller forces.
