Mendelssohn had already written three concertos (D minor Violin Concerto, A minor Piano Concerto and D minor Concerto for violin and piano) by the time he was 14. These two double concertos followed closely on their heels, the E major, written with his sister Fanny in mind, completed just five months after the Violin and Piano Concerto in October 1823, the A flat major, probably inspired by Mendelssohn’s new friend Ignaz Moscheles, appearing in November 1824. If neither aspires to the exalted level of thematic inspiration and structural cohesion of the G minor and D minor piano concertos (let alone the E minor Violin Concerto) there is much to enjoy and admire – and not merely because of the composer’s youth.

The E major (30'35"), with its obvious model of Mozart’s Double Concerto, K365, shows how Mendelssohn had absorbed his Weber, Hummel and Field. In the four hands of the Genova & Dimitrov Duo, the glittering piano writing leaps off the page, aided by Ulf Schirmer’s breathless pacing. John Ogdon and Brenda Lucas on their venerable 1970 Argo recording sound staid by comparison and their recorded sound is, unsurprisingly, no match for CPO’s crisp, clinical engineering. The lengthy (43'42") A flat Concerto, while showing Mendelssohn’s growing confidence and contrapuntal ingenuity, overstretches its material by some distance, but the energy and joie de vivre of the Duo and their Munich partners match its youthful exuberance. In marginally better sound, they certainly give Stephen Coombs and Ian Munro (Hyperion, 9/92) a run for their money.