The 19th century regarded Louis Spohr (1784-1859) as one of its great composers, and Die Letzten Dinge (1826) was popular and influential in its time. The text derives from the Book of Revelation, though the oratorio is not so much an apocalyptic drama as an austere meditation on both the second coming of Christ and the promise of “a new heaven and a new Earth”, after worldly corruption has been swept away. Haydn’s oratorios and the ceremonial scenes from Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte were Spohr’s models. The choral writing, however, looks forwards to Mendelssohn and Brahms, albeit without the directness of either. Revivals are rare. This new version, recorded live in Salzburg last year, is strongly conducted by Ivor Bolton, and there’s some particularly fine choral singing from the Salzburg Bach Choir. The soloists, led by tremulous Sally Matthews, aren’t ideally matched, but are also not helped by the distant quality of the recording itself.
