Gounod:Mors et Vita

[Gounod21]

Anyone else appreciate the grandeur and sublimity of this massive oratorio, which seems to cover the world; it begins with some very odd(?whole tone) chords representing death, and after a grim and prolonged, dramatic Part 1, progresses to the section including the famous "Judex' melody, (which, indeed, functions as a leitmotif throughout the latter part of the work); and then a seraphically calm redemption over death section, with many beautiful melodies, a massive choral climax and a not inconsiderable closing Fugue. Gounod's late oratorios have the reputation for being "saccharine" or "sentimental";I am never sure what those words really mean,and they are relativistic to each individual's perception/taste; to me it is sublime, moving and poignant. Has "Redemption" been recorded?("Mors et Vita " is Michel Plasson); I have 2 of the earlier liturgical works on Marco Polo, which I am starting to get to know

[alberto]

I have the Plasson recording in a huge (37 CDs!) of French Music (paid almost nothing) which attracted me for the sake of a conspicuous number of rarities (alongside a good number of duplications). I have appreciated Mors et Vita , but up to now heard it just once (the length is not indiffferent). Prompted by this thread I will return, also  as recently I have enjoyed quite a lot the (admittedly rather different) Hyperion Cd dedicated to the Gounod late music for pedal piano and orchestra.

[pcc]

I'd love to hear REDEMPTION, which was one of the great pieces of the late Victorian choral repertoire.  The great cornetist Herbert L. Clarke was engaged to play trumpet in a performance of it by the Toronto Philharmonic Society in the early 1880s when he was a very young man - at the time he was principally a violinist and violist - and he was positioned in the balcony of the concert hall.  At the rehearsal (not performance, thank God) he made an utter mess of his part because he'd never seen a part he had to transpose before - it was for trumpets in D and he came in triumphantly reading in B flat.  He got it straight for the performance, but he said in his memoirs he'd bever been so embarrassed in his life.