Mendelssohn Piano Concerto, etc
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Felix Mendelssohn, Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, Robert Schumann, Clara (Josephine) Schumann
Label: Classics
Magazine Review Date: 10/1996
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 64
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 37197-2
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra |
Felix Mendelssohn, Composer
English Chamber Orchestra Felix Mendelssohn, Composer Jennifer Eley, Piano Sayard Stone, Conductor |
Sonata for Piano |
Clara (Josephine) Schumann, Composer
Clara (Josephine) Schumann, Composer Jennifer Eley, Piano |
(Das) Jahr, Movement: February (Scherzo) |
Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, Composer
Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, Composer Jennifer Eley, Piano |
(Das) Jahr, Movement: March (Agitato) |
Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, Composer
Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, Composer Jennifer Eley, Piano |
(Das) Jahr, Movement: May: Spring Song |
Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, Composer
Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, Composer Jennifer Eley, Piano |
(Das) Jahr, Movement: September: On the River |
Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, Composer
Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, Composer Jennifer Eley, Piano |
(Das) Jahr, Movement: December (Allegro molto) |
Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, Composer
Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, Composer Jennifer Eley, Piano |
Author:
What a delightful disc this is. Mendelssohn’s E minor Piano Concerto fragment (sympathetically reconstructed by R. Larry Todd and recorded here for the first time) makes a compelling opener. Ably supported by the ECO, Jennifer Eley deploys her athletic virtuosity with taste and precision in the dramatic Allegro, while piano and orchestra are winningly expressive in the sweetly melodious Andante. As Todd points out in the insert-notes, this E minor Concerto offers valuable insights into the Violin Concerto with which it shares common thematic and design features, and a performance as authoritative as this one will prove irresistible to collectors. Likewise, Robert Schumann’s Konzertsatz for piano and orchestra – an important landmark in the composer’s progress towards his A minor Piano Concerto – is played dynamically by these musicians.
Most notable, though, are the two works for solo piano – Clara Schumann’s G minor Sonata and excerpts from Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel’s Das Jahr – where Eley’s feeling for this repertoire is at its most alluring and evocative. She articulates the Sonata’s first movement with astonishing clarity, produces aptly rich cantabile in the Adagio, neat precision in the scherzo and builds to an exciting climax in the finale. Eley also shows her own vivid musical imagination to be an ideal match for Fanny Mendelssohn’s in the selections from Das Jahr. There is elfin grace in the scherzo of “February”, satisfying warmth in “March”, radiant exhilaration in “May”, beautifully liquid melody in “September” (“Am Flusse”) and, finally, impressive swirling musical imagery in “December”.'
Most notable, though, are the two works for solo piano – Clara Schumann’s G minor Sonata and excerpts from Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel’s Das Jahr – where Eley’s feeling for this repertoire is at its most alluring and evocative. She articulates the Sonata’s first movement with astonishing clarity, produces aptly rich cantabile in the Adagio, neat precision in the scherzo and builds to an exciting climax in the finale. Eley also shows her own vivid musical imagination to be an ideal match for Fanny Mendelssohn’s in the selections from Das Jahr. There is elfin grace in the scherzo of “February”, satisfying warmth in “March”, radiant exhilaration in “May”, beautifully liquid melody in “September” (“Am Flusse”) and, finally, impressive swirling musical imagery in “December”.'
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