Reviewed by Steven Whitehead

'Die Schöpfung (The Creation)' is Haydn's greatest and most ambitious work. In it the composer gives a vivid depiction of the six days of creation as told in the Bible and Milton's 'Paradise Lost' which also influenced Haydn's librettist, Baron van Swieten. The end result is one of the great oratorios full of Haydn's irrepressibly life-affirming and melodious work and the musical journey as we move from the opening "Representation Of Chaos" through to the closing "Sing To The Lord, Ye Voices All!" is one that all with an interest in choral music will wish to make. This performance is by an almost exclusively German array of forces using period instruments and includes VokalEnsemble Köln and Capella Augustina. It is conducted by Andreas Spering and the soloists are the Korean soprano Sunhae Im, tenor Jan Kobow and the excellent bass, Hanno Müller-Brachmann. There are many recordings of 'The Creation' on the market, many of which your reviewer has not heard. He is, though, confident that few can be better performed and certain that none can be better value. Texts and translation and available on the Naxos website.

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