Mendelssohn Archive
Heifetz: Three Violin Concertos = MOZART: MENDELSSOHN; PROKOFIEV – Pristine Audio
An exceptional collection of Heifetz recordings!
MENDELSSOHN: Symphonies Nos. 1-5 – London Sym. Orch./ John Eliot Gardiner – LSO
LSO Live has released Gardiner’s Mendelssohn in an inexpensive box set.
MENDELSSOHN: Violin Concerto; DVORAK: Violin Concerto – Nathan Milstein, violin/ Swiss Festival Orchestra – Audite
Nathan Milstein confirms his repute for absolute mastery in two classic concertos, live from Lucerne.
Hans Rosbaud conducts MENDELSSOHN; WEBER – Southwest Radio Orchestra, Baden-Baden/ Hans Rosbaud – SWR Classics
SWR Classic issues a series of Hans Rosbaud vintage recordings, 1955-1962, of Romantic staples. Hans Rosbaud conducts = MENDELSSOHN: A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Overture, Scherzo and Notturno; Capriccio brillante in B minor for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 22; WEBER: Overtures: Preziosa, Op. 78; Der Freischuetz, Op. 77; Der Beherrscher der Geister, Op. 27; Konzartstueck in F minor for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 79 – Yvonne Loriod, piano (Mendelssohn)/ Robert Casadesus, piano (Weber)/ Southwest Radio Orchestra, Baden-Baden/ Hans Rosbaud – SWR Classics SWR19040CD, 79:40 (8/4/18) [Distr. by Naxos] ****: Those who lament the passing of Wilhelm Furtwaengler in 1954 as Germany’s great interpreter of the Romantic tradition—that is, who do not particularly relish the legacy of Herbert von Karajan—may recall the Austrian conductor Hans Rosbaud (1895-1962) continued both that tradition and a strong commitment to modernism in Baden-Baden by tirelessly working with his chosen SouthWest Radio Orchestra. My late colleague from my “First Hearing” days at WQXR-FM in New York City, Richard Kapp, had been a Rosbaud pupil, and he would harp perpetually on the limited scope of those few recordings that failed to represent the extraordinary range of Rosbaud’s musical acumen. Now, SWR Classic issues previously unpublished documents (rec. […]
MENDELSSOHN: Overture & Incidental Music to A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Budapest Festival Orchestra/ Ivan Fischer – Channel Classics
Faeries and humans may well dance and rejoice in Ivan Fischer’s new reading of Mendelssohn’s classic response to Shakespeare’s magical comedy. MENDELSSOHN: Overture and Incidental Music to “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Opp. 21 & 61; F. MENDELSSOHN: May Night, OP. 9, No. 6; Distance, Op. 9, No. 2; Gondola Song, Op. 1, No. 6 – Anna Lucia Richter, soprano/ Barbara Kozelj, alto/ Pro Musica Women’s Choir, Nyiregyhaza/ Budapest Festival Orchestra/ Ivan Fischer – Channel Classics Hybrid DSD CCA SA 37418, 56:35 (6/22/18) [Distr. by PIAS] *****: That Felix Mendelssohn composed his Overture to “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at the age of seventeen (1826) continues to astound anyone aware of the precious delicacy and sensitivity of its scoring and absolute fitness of its idiom. Whether or not the young Mendelssohn had been impressed by Carl Maria von Weber’s Der Freischuetz, the sensibility of magical transformation and faerie intrigue so suits the drama that no other composer has dared to challenge the effect. In terms of recorded performance, depending on one’s preference for English or German narrative, those by Otto Klemperer and Ferenc Fricsay, respectively, have maintained their dominance in my own catalogue of inspired readings. Now, with this performance by Ivan […]
The Young Isaac Stern = Violin Concerti by HAYDN; MENDELSSOHN; TCHAIKOVSKY – Isaac Stern, violin/ Leopold Stokowski/ Pierre Monteux/ Serge Koussevitzky – Pristine Audio
Vintage, youthful Isaac Stern has three fine collaborations revived in this trinity of violin concertos. The Young Isaac Stern = HAYDN: Violin Concerto No. 1 in C Major; MENDELSSOHN: Violin Concerto in e minor, Op. 64; TCHAIKOVSKY: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35 – Isaac Stern, violin/ Philharmonic-Symphony of New York/ Leopold Stokowski/ Philadelphia Orchestra/ Pierre Monteux/ Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra/ Serge Koussevitzky – Pristine Audio PASC 519, 79:51 [www.pristineclassical.com] ****: Mark Obert-Thorn resuscitates live recordings, 1945-1950, of the Ukrainian-American violinist Isaac Stern (1920-2001), whose musicianship later became clouded by his idiosyncratic and ruthless version of empire-building, abetted by Columbia Artists Management. The young Isaac Stern, who practiced his chosen instrument with due diligence, admitted his need for punctual and punctilious technical application, and the sheer will to endeavor paid off in his 1943 debut at Carnegie Hall with his esteemed piano accompanist Alexander Zakin. The earliest of the revived broadcast performances, from Philadelphia (13 January 1945), features a last-minute program change, substituting the Mendelssohn Concerto for that of the Beethoven, and the Philadelphia Orchestra enjoys the rare leadership of veteran Pierre Monteux. A few nervous measures at the opening soon resolve into a dramatic, often piercing interpretation of […]
The Budapest String Quartet with Rudolph Serkin = MENDELSSOHN, SCHUMANN: String Quartets, Piano Quintet – Budapest String Quartet/ Rudolf Serkin, piano – Praga Digitals
The Budapest String Quartet = MENDELSSOHN: String Quartet in D Major, Op. 44, No. 1; SCHUMANN: String Quartet in a minor, Op. 41, No. 1; Piano Quintet in E-flat Major, Op. 44 – Budapest String Quartet/ Rudolf Serkin, piano – Praga Digitals PRD 250 391, 82:29 (11/24/17) [Distr. by Harmonia mundi/PIAS] *****: Classic Budapest Quartet performances showcase their Strads in brilliant harmony in Mendelssohn and Schumann. In various incarnations, the Budapest String Quartet endured 1917-1967. Its originally “Hungarian” character evolved into a Russian ensemble whose repute extended to America, and they accepted the request to perform at the Library of Congress in Coolidge Auditorium on Stradivarius instruments, and their live concerts had the good fortune to have been recorded. The opening 1838 Mendelssohn Quartet in D Major (13 November 1959) provides a vivacious case in point for the ensemble’s thoroughly homogeneous sound and alertness of response, especially when first violin Joseph Roisman (1900-1974) maintained good intonation. The vivacious Molto allegro vivace enjoys rapid, rocket figures in the first violin and tender reflection from Boris Kroyt’s viola. The broad structure of the music wants to break out beyond the sonata-form to become an exuberant rhapsody whose multifarious themes find connection through […]
Vilde Frang: Homage = Violin Music by RIES; SCHUMANN; WIENIAWSKI; GLUCK; SCHUBERT; POLDOWSKI; DEBUSSY; SCRIABIN; KREISLER; DVORAK; PROKOFIEV; ALBENIZ; PONCE; BAZZINI; MENDELSSOHN – Vilde Frang / Jose Gallardo – Warner
Vilde Frang: Homage = RIES: La capricciosa; SCHUMANN: Widmung; WIENIAWSKI: “Obertass” Mazurka; Caprice in E-flat; GLUCK: Melodie; SCHUBERT: Ballet Music from “Rosamunde”; POLDOWSKI: Tango; DEBUSSY: La plus que lente; SCRIABIN: Etude, Op. 8, No. 10; KREISLER: Gypsy Caprice; Rondino; DVORAK: Slavonic Dance in e minor; PROKOFIEV: Masks; ALBENIZ: Sevilla; PONCE: Estrellita; BAZZINI: Calabrese, OP. 34, No. 6; MENDELSSOHN: Song without Words, Op. 62, No. 1 – Vilde Frang, violin/ Jose Gallardo, piano – Warner Classics 0190295605326, 54:51 ****: Vilde Frang “indulges” her talents by paying homage to composers in transcriptions by masters of her instrument. Norwegian Violin virtuoso Vilde Frang (b. 1986) pays literal homage to the pedagogues and luminaries of the past with seventeen pieces and arrangements (rec. March 2017) made for her chosen instrument by the likes of Auer, Kreisler, Heifetz, and Szigeti. Frang performs on an 1854 Jean-Baptiste Vauillaume, opening her suave program with an “undoctored” original piece from 1925, La capricciosa, by Franz Ries (1846-1932), a work that slides and cavorts in flirtatious gestures, then breaks into a spiffy version of a Brahms Hungarian Dance. The fine lied from Schumann’s Op. 25 Myrthen, “Widmung” makes as ravishing a violin transcription (by Leopold Auer) as it does […]
MENDELSSOHN: Symphonies 1 through 5 – Yannick Nezet-Seguin & Chamber Orch. of Europe – DGG
MENDELSSOHN: Symphonies 1-5 – Yannick Nezet-Seguin & Chamber Orchestra of Europe – DGG 479 7337 CD 1 73:01, CD: 2 66:57, Cd 3 60:12, (6/16/17) ****: Rarely heard compilation of all five Mendelssohn symphonies played live by the sparkling Chamber Orchestra of Europe. There has never been any argument about Beethoven’s Nine Symphonies. They are synonymous with classical music itself. At once the most enduring product of the industry and the standard by which greatness is measures, they sit cozily in their boxes as radiant and redundant exemplars of musical genius. Brahms follows next as a cultural icon. His Four are as cosmologically complete as the compass points or the seasons. Recently, the rise in Schumann’s reputation has seen increasing attempts to assemble his symphonies, too, as a summation and epitome of his musical career. The recording under review attempts to make a rare case for the Mendelssohn Five. It seems plausible enough, but let’s examine the reasons why it has been so seldom attempted. First, there is the big Lobsgesang symphony-cantata, the longest by far, which is never performed. Directly inspired by Beethoven’s Ninth, it attaches a substantial chorale to three conventional movements. The texts are echt Lutheran piety, […]
Beecham at the Royal Festival Hall, Vol. 2 = MENDELSSOHN: The Fair Melusina Overture; GHEDINI: Concerto for Viola and Strings; DVORAK: Symphony No. 8 – Frederick Riddle (vla.) / Royal Phil. Orch./ Sir Thomas Beecham – Pristine Audio
Beecham at the Royal Festival Hall, Vol. 2 = MENDELSSOHN: The Fair Melusina – Overture, Op. 32; GHEDINI: Musica da concerto for Viola and Strings; DVORAK: Symphony No. 8 in G Major, Op. 88 – Frederick Riddle, viola/ Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/ Sir Thomas Beecham – Pristine Audio PASC 504, 70:43 [www.pristine classical.com] ****: The second of the Beecham Royal Festival Hall concert recordings from Andrew Rose is “festive” in every sense. The second installment from Sir Thomas Beecham’s appearances at Royal Festival Hall for the concerts of 25 October and 8 November 1959—as edited and engineered by Andrew Rose—includes music familiar and novel to the Beecham legacy, including the performance of Giorgio Federico Ghedini’s Musica da Concerto (1953) with the esteemed viola player Frederick Riddle (1912-1995), who always claimed Beecham as the dominant musical influence of his life: “My best times were with Tommy. He was a genius. He had a twinkle in his eye – he enjoyed music and people.” The Mendelssohn and Dvorak works, both of which Beecham committed to commercial recordings, embrace his genial, romantic style, confident and thoroughly persuasive. Mendelssohn’s 1834 Overture The Fair Melusina derives from a fairy-tale about a cursed woman who becomes part […]
Milstein Rarities = LALO: Symphonie espagnole; MENDELSSOHN: Violin Concerto; DVORAK: Violin Concerto – Nathan Milstein (vln.) / Philadelphia Orch. / Eugene Ormandy / Phil.-Symph. of NY/ Arturo Toscanini / Leopold Stokowski – Pristine Audio
Milstein Rarities = LALO: Symphonie espagnole in d minor, Op. 21; MENDELSSOHN: Violin Concerto in e minor: Andante & Allegro non troppo; Allegro molto vivace; DVORAK: Violin Concerto in a minor, Op. 53 – Nathan Milstein, violin/ Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy (Lalo)/ Philharmonic-Symphony of New York/ Arturo Toscanini (Mendelssohn)/ Leopold Stokowski (Dvorak) – Pristine Audio PASC 503, 66:15 [www.pristineclassical.com] *****: The aristocrat of violinists, Milstein, has three rare performances restored to us by Mark Obert-Thorn. A few moments after my receipt of Mark Obert-Thorn’s latest restoration, “Milstein Rarities,” I played the collaboration of 26 October 1947 of the Dvorak Violin Concerto with Stokowski and the New York Philharmonic. Not only does this document preserve a new addition to the legacy of Leopold Stokowski, it illuminates Milstein’s approach to a work he did not begin to record over the course of his career—thrice—until 4 March 1951 in Minneapolis with Antal Dorati. Milstein (1904-1992), like Jascha Heifetz, had been a pupil of Leopold Auer; but unlike Heifetz, Milstein did not nurture a ‘sang froid’ demeanor in his art to complement the technical proficiency he displayed. I had the good fortune to interview Milstein briefly after a performance of the Beethoven Concerto in […]
BRUCH: String Octets; String Quintet – The Nash Ensemble – Hyperion
The aging German master displays his melodic and often explosive temper in three late string works. BRUCH: String Octet in E-flat Major; String Quintet in a minor; String Octet in B-flat Major – The Nash Ensemble – Hyperion CDA68168, 62:48 (3/31/17) [Distr. by Harmonia mundi/PIAS] ****: The three chamber works by Max Bruch (rec. 18-20 April 2016) here performed by the talented Nash Ensemble testify to the resurgence of the composer’s late interest in the medium, all of the pieces having been conceived 1918-1920. Even in the throes of WW I, Bruch managed to find inspiration through his association with violinist Willy Hess, virtuoso and pedagogue at the Hochschule fuer Musik in Berlin. Throughout these string ensemble works, we feel that both Brahms and Mendelssohn have exerted their respective spells and influences upon Bruch, though his own natural capacity for melodic utterance remains his own. The opening work, the String Quintet in E-flat, proffers four movements, the first of which, Andante con moto, serves an introductory function for the ensuing Allegro. This movement projects a more symphonic cast, with the two violas – Lawrence Power and James Boyd – filling out the often dramatic outbursts. The songful Andante con moto […]
Arturo Toscanini = MENDELSSOHN: Symphony No. 4, “Italian”; Symphony No. 5,“Reformation”; WAGNER: Parsifal, Prelude, Act I – NBC Symphony Orchestra (Mendelssohn)/ London Symphony Orchestra (Wagner) – Praga Digitals
The natural power and persuasive brilliance of the Toscanini experience return in music of Mendelssohn and Wagner. Arturo Toscanini = MENDELSSOHN: Symphony No. 4 in A Major, Op. 90 “Italian”; Symphony No. 5 in d minor, Op. 107 “Reformation”; WAGNER: Parsifal: Prelude, Act I; Good Friday Music – NBC Symphony Orchestra (Mendelssohn)/ London Symphony Orchestra (Wagner) – Praga Digitals PRD/DSD 350128, 78:54 (11/11/16) [Distr. by Harmonia mundi/PIAS] ****: I can recall having traveled downtown to 49th Street in New York City, specifically to obtain from Sam Goody’s record store a copy of RCA LM 1851, Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 4 and Symphony No. 5 with Arturo Toscanini conducting the NBC Symphony, performances that benefit from the Carnegie Hall venue, 1953 and 1954. At that time, Toscanini’s presence on the podium carried a guarantee of propulsive energy tied to a virtually religious devotion to the letter of the composer’s intentions. Mendelssohn’s 1833 Italian Symphony seemed to convey an innocent, idealistic Mediterranean impression, with none of the gritty, new Realism I might find in contemporary cinema of the period, Fellini’s La Strada or Pasolini’s Accatone. Rather, the symphony invoked blue skies in the first movement and a somber but optimistic Roman processional in […]
BRAHMS: String Sextet No. 1; String Sextet No. 2 – Barry Sullivan, viola/ Zuill Bailey, cello/ Cypress String Quartet – Avie
For their last recording, the Cypress Quartet invites guests to share the music of Brahms. BRAHMS: String Sextet No. 1 in B-flat Major, Op. 18; String Sextet No. 2 in G Major, Op. 36 – Barry Sullivan, viola/ Zuill Bailey, cello/ Cypress String Quartet – Avie AV2294, 76:50 (1/6/17) (Distr. by Harmonia mundi/PIAS] ***** The two Brahms sextets (1862 and 1864, respectively) enjoy a status that renders them “immune” from invidious comparison with works by Beethoven. Spohr and Boccherini had explored the medium; and in the case of Brahms, his B-flat Sextet made an immediate, favorable impression upon mentors Joseph Joachim and Clara Schumann. The second of the sextets exhibits even more internal unity than the first. Both sextets convey a degree of melancholy, each in its own way: the B-flat projects a first movement rife with nostalgia; the G Major – much in the manner of Schumann’s penchant for musical anagrams – casts a sad farewell to Agathe von Siebold, a singer from Goettingen to whom Brahms had been engaged until he wrote a letter to the effect that he “could not endure living in chains.” The patented Brahms sonority ushers forth at the opening of the B-flat Sextet, […]
MENDELSSOHN: Songs Without Words; Andante and Rondo capriccioso – Ania Dorfmann, p. – Pristine Audio (2 CDs)
Mark Obert-Thorn restores Ania Dorfmann’s impressive effort in the complete set of Mendelssohn’s poetic tone-pictures. MENDELSSOHN: Songs Without Words; Andante and Rondo capriccioso, Op. 14 – Ania Dorfmann, p. – Pristine Audio PAKM 069 (2 CDs), TT: 2:12:21 [avail. in various formats from www.pristineclassical.com] ****: In his extensive “Producer’s Note,” Mark Obert-Thorn justly laments the fact that Russian pianist Ania Dorfamnn (1899-1984) remains in the collective memory of classical music enthusiasts as a “singular success,” her having recorded the C Major Beethoven Piano Concerto with Arturo Toscanini. Happily, thanks to the compact disc medium, much of her recorded legacy – excepting the Chopin waltzes – has returned, documentation of her wide-ranging gifts in Romantic repertory, with an occasional visit to contemporary music, specifically Menotti. Obert-Thorn restores her survey of the complete Mendelssohn Songs Without Words (rec. October – December 1956) and the brilliant Rondo capriccioso (12-13 January 1953), salon works in eight books that frequently attain a modest virtuoso status. Mendelssohn, himself a fine pianist, often writes left-hand accompaniments that demand wide leaps, while the fleetest of these miniatures asks for a firm tenor or soprano melodic line. When the RCA Victor set (LM 6128) had a review in […]
Bruno Walter – The Complete Columbia Acoustic Recordings – Works of MENDELSSOHN, BERLIOZ, WEBER, WAGNER, & R. STRAUSS – Pristine Audio
The earliest Bruno Walter records reveal a committed Romantic conductor in music in the German tradition. Bruno Walter – The Complete Columbia Acoustic Recordings – WEBER: Overture to Der Freischuetz; MENDELSSOHN: Nocturne from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Op. 61; BERLIOZ: Menuet of the Will-o’-the-Wisps from La Damnation de Faust, Op. 24; WAGNER: Tristan und Isolde: Liebestod; Die Meistersinger von Nuernberg: Prelude, Act III; Goetterdaemmerung: Siegfried’s Rhine Journey; A Siegfried Idyll; R. STRAUSS: Death and Transfiguration, Op. 24 – Royal Philharmonic Orch./ Bruno Walter – Pristine Audio PASC 482, 76:50 [avail. in various formats from www.pristineclassical.com] ****: Producer and Recording Engineer Mark Obert-Thorn provides the following remarks concerning Bruno Walter’s first efforts for gramophone recordings: “Although Bruno Walter (1876-1962) claimed late in life that he had made his first recordings around 1900, his earliest documented discs date from 1923 when he began a series for Grammophon/Polydor in Berlin, most of which have been reissued on Pristine PASC 142 and PASC 322. In May 1924, Walter was in London for the first presentation of a German opera season at Covent Garden since the end of the Great War. That month, he conducted Wagner’s Ring cycle, Tristan und Isolde, and Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier […]
San Francisco Symphony At 100, Blu-ray (2012)
San Francisco Symphony At 100, Blu-ray (2012) Performers: San Francisco Symphony/ Michael Tilson Thomas Studio: SFS Media (6/12/12) Video: Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Aspect ratio: 1.78:1 Audio: English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1/ English: Dolby TrueHD 2.0, Both 96kHz, 16-bit audio Subtitles: English, Spanish, Mandarin (Simplified), Mandarin (Traditional)Length: 2:26:30 Rating: *** 1/2 A rousing concert disc marred by too much talking. This disc documents a September, 2011 Centennial concert with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. The same concert was presented on PBS some years ago in a more complete form. More about that later. As a concert recorded in high definition video and high resolution sound I have no complaints. It is well directed, well produced, and the musicians are in top form. Sadly, I have some complaints about the formatting of the disc and the program. Each presented work is opened with comments by author Amy Tan. They are fine for one viewing, but she is hard to eliminate from subsequent viewings as her comments preceding each work are located at the chapter stops. It would be better to have had each musical presentation start at the chapter break, so as a result you either listen to her comments, […]
SAINT-SAENS: Music for Piano Duo and Duet, Vol. One = Martin Jones & Adrian Farmer, p. – Nimbus
A deliciously joyful collection of four-hand work to complement your Saint-Saens library. SAINT-SAENS: Music for Piano Duo and Duet, Vol. One = Tarantelle, Op. 6; Duettino in G Major, Op. 11; Le Rouet d’Omphale, Op. 31; Koenig Harald Harfagar, Op. 59; Septet: Menuet & Gavotte; Polonaise, Op. 77; Feuillet d’album, Op. 81; Berceuse, Op. 105; Scherzo, Op. 87; Pas redouble in B-flat Major, Op. 86 – Martin Jones & Adrian Farmer, pianos – Nimbus Alliance NI 5940 65:35 (8/12/16) [www.wyastone.co.uk] ****: This recording (May & October 2015) presents the first of two volumes of original compositions and arrangements for piano duo and duet by Camille Saint-Saëns. This program offers the substantial Scherzo, Op. 87 and Polonaise, Op. 77 for two pianos, alongside a number of smaller works for two pianos and piano four hands. Saint-Saens (1835-1921)himself re-cast several of his chamber music compositions for piano-duo performance, as in his 1857 Tarantelle, Op. 6. Typically, this composer’s music enjoys the brio of life, its sparkle and elan. Playful clarity combines with serenity in craft and security of expression. The other significant chamber music arrangement, from the 1880 Septet, Op. 65, arranges the staid Menuet & Gavotte in liquid tones. Two orchestral […]
Fabiren Sevitzky & the Indianapolis Sym. Vol. I – Pristine Audio
Mark Obert-Thorn restores the World Premiere recording of Tchaikovsky’s Manfred Symphony. Fabien Sevitzky – Indianapolis Symphony Vol. 1 = TCHAIKOVSKY: Manfred Sym. in b minor, Op. 58; Waltz from Eugene Onegin, Op. 24; GLINKA: Russlan and Ludmilla Ov.; RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: Dubinushka, Op. 62; LIADOV: Baba Yaga, Op. 56 – Indianapolis Sym. Orch./ Fabien Sevitzky – Pristine Audio PASC 479, 79:00 [www.pristineclassical.com] ****: The restoration of the Fabien Sevitzky (nee Koussevitzky) reading of the Tchaikovsky Manfred Symphony (27-28 January 1942) at the Mural Theatre, Indianapolis by audio engineer and annotator Mark Obert-Thorn is not the first CD incarnation of this performance: it had been issued on the Historic-Recordings.co.uk label in 2009 (HRCD 00017) in a transfer by Damien Rogan. Under that aegis, the gloomy, dramatic symphony inspired by Lord Byron’s 1816 epic poem stands alone; here, Obert-Thorn adds – in the first two selections from 1941 – the earliest of the conductor’s sessions at RCA Victor. Sevitzky (1891-1967) – nephew of his more illustrious uncle Serge Koussevitzky – had studied both with Liadov and Rimsky-Korsakov in St. Petersburg, so he had imbibed the Russian style naturally. An avid collector of neckwear, Sevitzky claimed to possess the second largest assortment of neckties, […]
SCHUMANN: Piano Concerto in a, Op. 54; MENDELSSOHN: The Fair Melusina Overture, Op. 32; Piano Concerto No. 1 in g, Op. 25 – Ingrid Fliter, p. / Scottish Ch. Orch. / Antonio Mendez – Linn
SCHUMANN: Piano Concerto in a, Op. 54; MENDELSSOHN: The Fair Melusina Overture, Op. 32; Piano Concerto No. 1 in g, Op. 25 – Ingrid Fliter, p. / Scottish Ch. Orch. / Antonio Mendez – Linn multichannel SACD, 61:00 (5/13/16) *****: Chopin specialist Ingrid Fliter is equally at home in two of the Polish composer’s distinguished contemporaries. Both Schumann and Mendelssohn wrote single-movement concerted works for piano: Schumann two and Mendelssohn three. In an era when audiences were more prone to listen to a series of short works, or even bits and pieces of longer works, on a concert program, compact concerti such as Schumann’s Introduction and Allegro Appassionato or Mendelssohn’s Capriccio Brilliant had currency. Today, you rarely if ever hear such pieces in concert, so it was a blessing in disguise that publishers turned down Schumann’s one-movement Phantasie in A Minor when he offered it to them. He set the work aside, but through the urging of his wife Clara, Schumann decided four years later, in 1845, to add the Intermezzo and Allegro vivace finale that complete his Piano Concerto Op. 54. As in the case of Schumann’s Second Symphony composed a year later, working on the Piano Concerto was […]
MENDELSSOHN: Elijah – Soloists/ RIAS Kammerchor / Akademie fur Alte Musik Berlin/ Hans‐Christoph Rademann – Accentus
MENDELSSOHN: Elijah, Op. 70 – Marlis Petersen (sop.) / Lioba Braun (mezzo) / Maximilian Schmitt (tenor) / Thomas Oliemans (bari.)/RIAS Kammerchor / Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin/ Hans‐Christoph Rademann – Accentus ACC30356 (2 CDs); TT 1h, 25m (3/25/16) [Distr. by Naxos] ****1/2: Recorded live, Rademann’s Elijah is long on drama, managing to downplay the sentimental elements of this flawed masterpiece. It’s easy to forget that Felix Mendelssohn wrote operas. Two of them, Der Oncle von Boston and Die Heimkehr aus die Fremde, were written for private performance only and the one opera which Mendelssohn wrote for public performance, Die Hochzeit des Comacho, was treated so dismissively by the critics that he decided to foreswear opera composition altogether. This, at the ripe old age of eighteen. Well, he didn’t turn his back entirely on opera, considering German mythology and even Shakespeare’s The Tempest as possible subjects, but he never committed to any project leaving only sketches. However, following the model of one of his musical heroes, Handel, Mendelssohn created in Elijah an oratorio that is fully operatic in its more dramatic passages. Like Handel’s Saul and Belshazzar, Elijah contains a series of dramatic scena that have managed to win it a […]
Monteux at Tanglewood Vol. 2 = MENDELSSOHN: Piano Con. No. 2; Sym. No. 4; SCHUMANN: Intro & Allegro appassionato; Manfred Ov. – w/ Serkin, p. – Pristine
Some rousing Mendelssohn and Schumann grace this live Monteux concert from “The Shed” at Tanglewood. Monteux at Tanglewood Volume 2 = MENDELSSOHN: Piano Concerto No. 1 in g minor, Op. 25; Symphony No. 4 in A Major, Op. 90 “Italian”; SCHUMANN: Introduction and Allegro appassionato in G Major, Op. 92; Manfred Overture, Op. 115 – Rudolf Serkin, p./ Boston Sym. Orch./ Pierre Monteux – Pristine Audio PASC 473, 77:36 [avail. in several diff. formats from www.pristineclassical.com] ****: The concert of 1 August 1959 for the summer music festival of the Boston Symphony features two veteran musicians, Pierre Monteux (1875-1964) and pianist Rudolf Serkin (1903-1991). Collectors are likely aware that Serkin recorded the two concertante pieces for CBS with Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra under slightly less manic conditions. Still, if one can forgive Serkin’s finger slips – mostly in the Concerto’s first movement – the performance here proffers a musical fireball by two acolytes of the Romantic ethos. Monteux opens with a work he did not record for RCA commercially, the “Italian” Symphony of Mendelssohn. Monteux takes the oft-neglected repeat in the first movement, and then proceeds to compensate for the added minute by injecting a heated velocity into […]
Stereotypes Audio
Cembal d’amour
Pure Pleasure / Speakers Corner
Cedille
