Here’s some puffery from the Seattle Times:
Seattle Symphony takes on Mendelssohn’s ambitious 'Lobgesang'
Tom Keogh
However, there’s only so much you can say about the piece, because...
...sorry, Mendelssohn, you are not Beethoven.
"The 'Lobgesang' is a choral symphony," says [SSO music director Gerard] Schwarz. "Beethoven's Ninth [completed in 1824] was the first."
Eat Beethoven’s dust, bitch!
After Beethoven died, everyone was afraid of composing choral symphonies that would be compared to it. But Mendelssohn went ahead and did something unique.
Yeah? What was that?
The first three movements are purely instrumental.
...uh...
After that...
...
...
...
After that, profit!
Flow chart 1. The sales pitch