Many readers will know the recitative, trio and chorus that begins ‘When Jesus our Lord was born in Bethlehem’. It comes from Christus, an oratorio that Mendelssohn embarked on in 1846 but left incomplete on his death the following year. It was to be in three parts, covering Christ’s birth, Passion and Resurrection. Mendelssohn was evidently suffering from writer’s block, and what remains is the section mentioned above and, from Part 2, a mixed recitative and chorus followed by a chorale. (The booklet-note puzzlingly refers to 13 completed movements.)

Equilbey directs a winning account of the Christmas section, though some will possibly be surprised by her tempi, which are brisk in the trio, leisurely in the chorus. She does what she can with the chorus from Part 2, where Mendelssohn’s inspiration is fitful indeed. ‘Wir haben ein Gesetz’, fugal as in Bach’s St John Passion, is particularly feeble. Equilbey manages to rake the embers at the preceding ‘Kreuzige ihn’. The most memorable section – a relative term – is the melancholy, pizzicato-accompanied ‘Ihr Töchter Zions’.

The disc opens with Verleih uns Frieden, a charming miniature with an introduction for the cellos. In the previous year, 1830, Mendelssohn composed O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden, two choruses framing a baritone aria. Vom Himmel hoch likewise begins with a spacious chorale prelude but with added trumpets and timpani. The soloists sing with great beauty and feeling, and the choir and orchestra – the former rather backwardly recorded – are equally fine.