Dohnanyi always gives good Mendelssohn, a composer whose music responds well to his neat, precise, tasteful, understated style of conducting. The Scottish Symphony captured here displays all of these virtues in lively tempos, typically superb playing by the Clevelanders, and a finale in which the add-on coda emerges with impressive naturalness from what has come before. But the real treat is the coupling: Die erste Walpurgisnacht (The First Witches’ Sabbath), a marvelous and (for Mendelssohn) quite ferocious cantata lasting a bit more than half an hour in which a pack of bloodthirsty druids intimidate a bunch of squeamish Christians. As always in such cases, pagans and demon worshippers get all of the good music, and Mendelssohn is smart enough to keep the role of the Christians to the bare minimum. This is also a very fine performance, with excellent solo singing (by Christine Cairns and Tom Krause particularly), a rousing chorus, and plenty of vitality. Definitely a reissue worth considering–you’re in for a very good time.
