This recording represents the kick off for the new CD series of 'MDR KLASSIK' - The classical label of Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR) and its Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir.
 
The choral symphonic start is made with three live recordings of Mendelssohn’s incidental music - this Volume 1 of Athalia and the recordings of Sophocles’ tragedies Antigone (MDR1202) and Oedipus at Colonus (MDR1203).  All three recordings were made to mark the 200th birthday of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy in 2009, with the intention of drawing attention to Mendelssohn’s all too seldom performed incidental music.
 
The versions of the play scripts used for Athalia demonstrate clearly the way in which Mendelssohn approached the task of composition by referring to relevant historic sources such as the spoken interludes by Eduard Devrient.
 
Live recording of the concert on 7 June 2009 in the New Gerwandhaus in Leipzig, Main Hall.

Booklet: German, English, 36 pp
Total time: 66’27”