Felix Mendelssohn

This recording is of the entire score of the Incidental Music Op.61, including the Overture, all the transitions and brief interludes which Mendelssohn wrote, so really is complete. Also included, is the spoken text devised by Franzobel.

Mi Joo Lee’s dazzling Schumann CD (MDG6040941) was well received. She now teams up with Klaus Hellwig for this Mendelssohn recording which includes a version of the Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream for four hands, and the Andante and Allegro Op.92. The Six Preludes and Fugues Op.35 round off this very special programme.

These are never-before-released Monteux live performances in state of the art digital restorations. The set includes works by Beethoven, Brahms, Glinka, Hindemith, Mendelssohn, Milhaud, Schumann, R. Strauss of which there are no studio recordings with Monteux. Soloists include Stern and Serkin.

This is the second Christmas recording from The Plaxtol Scholars. Both concentrate mainly on celebrating the birth of Jesus and Mary the mother of Jesus. As with the first recording, there are new commissions – Amanda Paley-Menzies’ Resonet in Laudibus and Howard Burrell’s Gloria Tibi, as well as first recordings of Michael Barlow’s In Bethlehem, That Fair City and Burrell’s Love came Down.

A delightful Christmas selection brought to you by The Choir of St.John’s College, Oxford. The Choir was reformed in 1637 by Sir William Perry, the physician to James I, and the present day choir continues the English choral tradition and regularly sings services in Chapel during term.

Paul Taffanel became one of a select few players who significantly influenced the course and development of the history of the flute. Indeed, his influence on other flute players, on teachers and composers, and even on instrument makers, had such an impact that it is feasible to think in terms of a “Taffanel legacy”. He was clearly a musical force both on and off the concert platform. His imaginative approach to music conveyed through his expressive use of colour and intensity of sound was unique. Taffanel was dismissive of flute music that tended to concentrate on mere showmanship or on virtuosity for its own sake and there can be no doubt that at the time when he was a young student in the 1860’s, music of this type contributed to a popular perception of the flute as an instrument best suited for light entertainment.

Most of the works recorded here were written and performed during Paul Taffanel’s lifetime, 1844-1908. Several were written especially for him and some appeared regularly in his own recital programmes. Having lain dormant for far too long some of these imaginative compositions are recorded for the first time revealing, to “modern” ears, a rich treasury of music which typifies much of the music heard in the chamber music salons and concert halls of Paris at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Felix Mendelssohn was a virtuoso pianist, and it is worth remembering that he was born in 1809, with his friend Schumann being born a year later in 1810, as was Chopin, and Liszt following in 1811. These composers were among the greatest pianists of the 19th century, and they were born at a time when the piano was a relatively modern instrument, and composers such as Hummel, Moscheles (Mendelssohn’s friend), Kalkbrenner and Ries were accorded adulation similar to pop stars today. Beethoven commenced his career in the 1790s as a virtuoso pianist.

No surprise then that the young Mendelssohn composed extensively for his chosen instrument from the outset. From early concertos and sonatas he quickly established his ‘mature’ style in works such as the Rondo capriccioso, and the Andante cantabile e Presto agitato.

The masterpieces that followed include the remarkably imposing Variations serieuses and the famous Songs without Words. Mendelssohn’s style did not change throughout his short creative life – he very quickly composed in what we know as his mature style from his early teens, something even Mozart didn’t achieve. This 4CD contains the Songs without Words, Variations serieuse, Kinderstucke, Rondo capriccioso, Capriccio, and Trois Fantasies ou Caprices plus several shorter works.

Producer and Restoration Engineer: Ward Marston