By the standards of present-day "Back-to-Baroquers", Mendelssohn was a musical meddler.
Within seconds of the opening track of Robert King's new recording of Handel's Israel in Egypt, Handel enthusiasts will notice something seriously amiss.
The original oratorio sets off with a tenor recitative, but this new version is introduced by almost 10 minutes of overture, entirely from Mendelssohn's pen, right down to a few billows from his Hebrides Overture.
This new release, on the Vivat label, lovingly presents a musicological curiosity: the conductor's reconstruction of Mendelssohn's 1833 arrangement of the Handel oratorio, taking full advantage of the rich resources of a 19th century symphony orchestra.
Orchestral colour is a major component in this project's success and not only in the almost naïve grandeur of its overture with its chattering woodwind interludes. When bass Roderick Williams enters, describing a land plagued with frogs, a willowy clarinet weaves sinuously through the croaking rhythms. Two tracks on, a jubilant chorus pits brass fanfares against scurrying violin lines that would fit well in the enchanted forest of A Midsummer Night's Dream.
