Conductor – Radu Zaharia
Programme – Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy – 2nd Symphony Lobgesang op.52
Choir conductor – Robert Daniel Rădoiaş

Adela Zaharia – soprano
Simona Zaharia – mezzosoprano
Daniel Zah – tenor

The Second Symphony op. 52, also known as “Lobgesang”, was composed by Mendelssohn in 1840 for a festival in Leipzig which celebrated four centuries past from the invention of typography. The musical work, considered to be among Mendelssohn’s most ambitious symphonies, is meant to be interpreted by two sopranos, a tenor and a vocal choir. “Lobgesang” (“praise hymn”) explores the theme of divinity and the consequential progress of humanity through religiosity, as the text of the opera was mostly based on and developed from the Holy Bible.

By adjoining textual elements within a symphony, Mendelsohn somewhat produces an echo to Beethoven’s IXth Symphony, written 16 years before “Lobgesang”. The closure of the IXth Symphony (inspired by Schiller’s ode, “An die Freude”), performed by a choir and a group of soloists, is purely brilliant.