Mendelssohn' magnificent oratorio Elijah brings to life the tumultuous times and personal drama of the Biblical prophet in a sweeping series of recitatives, arias and choruses in which the composer' Romantic genius drew deeply from the wellsprings of Bach.

MENDELSSOHN: Piano Trios Nos. 1 and 2

Our tour of Italy starts in the countryside near Orvieto, moves to the Baths of Caracalla in Rome, then to Montalcino and it's ancient abbey. We see the Tuscan landscape around Montepulciano, glimpse Siena, and finally see something of the historic building.

MENDELSSOHN: Flute Concerto in D Minor / Flute Sonatas

Lena Neudauer attracted international attention when at the age of fifteen she not only spectacularly won the Leopold Mozart Competition in Augsburg but also was awarded practically all the special prizes. And Matthias Kirschnereit has long enjoyed international renown, even though he eschews the glamorous world of stardom. We have now brought together these two most highly talented musicians for a recording of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy's Concerto for Violin, Piano, and String Orchestra, a work with a tradition extending from Bach and Baroque music by way of Mozart and Haydn to early romanticism. In the second early work heard on this album, the Violin Concerto in D minor, the legacy of classicism and that of Bach's highly regarded son Carl Philipp Emanuel, are clearly audible. For Mendelssohn's teacher Zelter and contemporary audiences the musical aesthetic of the late eighteenth century continued to dictate taste. Both of these early concertos attest to an authentic boy genius and an acclaimed public favorite!

Mendelssohn, Felix / Mendelssohn-Hensel, Fanny: Choral Music

Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde - Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Nig

SYMPHONIES NOS. 3 & 4

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VIOLIN CONCERTOS

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Felix Mendelssohn composed his three String Quartets op. 44 dedicated to Sweden’s crown prince and later king Oscar I during the years from 1837 to 1838. In 1840 Mendelssohn, who was regarded as an absolute perfectionist, revised these “Trois Grands Quatuors,” which he judged to be »some hundred times better« than all of his previous works. Vol. 3 presents the first two quartets from op. 44. The first, the last of the series to be composed, belongs to the genre of the “quatuor brilliant” – a type in which it is the first violin that shines. Already the introductory “Allegro vivace” is like a concerto movement by reason of the fact that the first violin is mostly accompanied by the three other instruments, often even with orchestral tremolos and timpani imitations in the violoncello. The second quartet, the first to be composed in this series of three, conveys an elegiac and passionate tone and displays expressive passages together with powerful accents.

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MENDELSSOHN Violin Concerto in d. Piano Concerto in a. Concerto for Violin and Piano in d • Michael Hofstetter, cond; Alexander Sitkovetsky (vn); Dinorah Varsi (pn); Stuttgart CO • ORFEO 761 092 (2 CDs: 93:02)


This disc is a treat for the Mendelssohn bicentennial. What we have here is a piano concerto written at age 12, a violin concerto at age 13, and a double concerto (violin and piano) at age 14. Mendelssohn was a composer whose childhood genius surpassed that of Mozart and that of Schubert. These concertos are testaments of that amazing attribute. Each is more interesting and complex than its predecessor. The influences of Mozart, C. P. E. Bach, and early Beethoven are apparent, but an original stamp is present unequivocally and pervasively. The orchestral parts are scored for strings only, in keeping with the scoring of the string symphonies of the same years. Conductor Hofstetter has the strings employ very little vibrato; however, violinist Sitkovetsky does not follow such a limitation. Absent from these concertos is Mendelssohn’s characteristic contrapuntal writing, which made its entry later in his teens. Much in the first movement of the “Double” Concerto, starting around 3:22, is redolent of the “Hungarian” section of Schubert’s piano and violin Fantasie (D 934). The Fantasie was written four years after the “Double” Concerto.


These three concertos are played with consummate musicianship. Michael Hofstetter is the principal conductor of the renowned Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, following a line of succession that started with the orchestra’s founder, Karl Münchinger. Alexander Sitkovetsky, still in his twenties, is a Russian-born British violinist who has become one of the most sought after young violinists for solo and chamber performances. Dinorah Varsi has had a long career, retreating from the public eye from time to time for reflection and regeneration. After studying under Géza Anda and winning the Clara Haskil competition in Lucerne in 1967, her international career was launched.


If you are drawn to Mendelssohn’s music, as is the case for so many classical music lovers, then these discs are the ones that you must hear.


FANFARE: Burton Rothleder

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