Mendelssohn: Symphonies and Oratorios album review – Andris Nelsons’ prodigious talent on full display

Gewandhaus Orchestra/Nelsons/Schuen/Zeppenfeld(Deutsche Grammophon)The Latvian conductor finds dynamic light and shade in seven discs’ worth of special performances with an orchestra once led by the composer himself Andris Nelsons’ tenure may have been prematurely terminated in Boston, but this handsome box set with his other ensemble, the venerable Gewandhaus Orchestra, is proof positive of the Latvian conductor’s prodigious talent. Of course, Mendelssohn is in the orchestra’s DNA – after all, the composer held the reins in Leipzig from 1835 until his death in 1847 – but these performances, especially of the five symphonies, are pretty special. Recorded live between 2021 and 2024, tempi are brisk, though never rushed. It’s the phrasing, elastic and full of dynamic light and shade, that brings these accounts to life. Listen to the ultra-lithe opening movement of the Italian Symphony, or the filigree woodwind in the Scottish Symphony’s scherzo. In Nelsons’ hands, the First Symphony – often the Cinderella of the set – takes its place alongside its more colourful cousins. The seven-disc set includes two oratorios, familiar in this country in their Victorian Engli