Felix Mendelssohn’s “Paulus” is heard much less frequently than the later “Elias”. This is no different with the Munich Motettenchor: the Old Testament oratorio about the prophet Elijah has been on the program 16 times in the past 60 years, and the New Testament counterpart only four times.
“Paulus” is by no means less dramatic, as is often claimed, as artistic director Benedikt Haag shows at the concert in the Herkulessaal, with which the choir is finally celebrating its milestone birthday after a two-year Corona delay. The drama only goes inward, following the spiritual path of the pagan apostle. Haag also makes this clear with a few slower tempos that allow for intimacy and gentleness. At the beginning it drags before Haag, supported by the warm mixed sound of the resident orchestra and the (sometimes too loud) organ, gets the hang of it.
With Jochen Kupfer, the title character is ideally cast for this approach. Thanks to his balanced, legato-rich, flowing baritone, Kupfer never sounds like a zealot, but always humane: a person who finds himself in the enlightenment before Damascus and can therefore face others as a missionary with the natural authority of conviction. In addition, his voice in the Apostle Duets blends perfectly with that of Nikolaus Pfannkuch, a characterful tenor with a warm, light high note, who also gives the recitatives an intensely narrative form. Julia Sophie Wagner’s well-focused but rather narrow soprano remains a matter of taste, while alto Vero Miller doesn’t get much to sing here. In the varied choral passages, on the other hand, the motet choir can show that two years of Corona have not harmed them. It sounds dense in the homophonic writing and clear in the polyphonic, angry as a slavering crowd, radiant in the proclamation and actually touchingly heartfelt in the chorales.