This release features two of Felix Mendelssohn's fine orchestral symphonies, the rarely heard, but thoroughly accomplished 1st and the very popular 4th, the "Italian." An extremely appealing release. The multi-talented Jörg Widmann joins this new release not only as an instrumentalist and conductor but as a "composer colleague" of Mendelssohn, making this project all the more appealing. Orfeo is also delighted to present not only a first-class soloist, Sergei Nakariakov, on this album but also a work written especially for him by the Artistic Director of the project, namely Jörg Widmann's virtuosic, "Ad Absurdam."