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During his tragically short life, Felix Mendelssohn produced an extensive output of music covering every genre. Although he claimed that he took little pleasure in writing for the piano and felt that it was not an area of composition that he was particularly good at, the music itself has always retained a place in the affection of performers. After the sonatas of his early youth, he concentrated mostly on producing short pieces which could more readily be put together during the limited gaps in his busy professional life. The anthology selected for this recording by Bertrand Chamayou interweaves many of these shorter works with more substantial pieces, and includes some rarely performed music alongside established masterpieces like the “Songs without words
Felix Mendelssohn: 3 Preludes, Op. 104a
3 Preludes, Op. 104a: Prelude in B minor
Felix Mendelssohn: Rondo capriccioso in E major, Op. 14, MWV U67
Rondo capriccioso in E major, Op. 14
Franz Liszt: Mendelssohn - Lieder, S547/R217 (7 Lieder from Mendelssohn, Op, 19a, 34, 47)
Mendelssohn - Lieder, S547/R217 (7 Lieder from Mendelssohn, Op, 19a, 34, 47): Auf Flugeln des Gesanges (from Op. 34, No. 2)
Felix Mendelssohn: 3 Etudes, Op. 104b
No. 1 in B flat minor
No. 2 in F major
No. 3 in A minor
Felix Mendelssohn: Lieder ohne Worte (Songs without Words), Book 3, Op. 38
Lieder ohne Worte (Songs without Words), Book 3, Op. 38: No. 2 in C minor
Felix Mendelssohn: 3 Fantaisies ou caprices, Op. 16
3 Fantaisies ou caprices, Op. 16: II. Scherzo in E minor
Felix Mendelssohn: Lieder ohne Worte (Songs without Words), Book 1, Op. 19b
Lieder ohne Worte (Songs without Words), Book 1, Op. 19b: No. 2 in A minor
Felix Mendelssohn: Variations serieuses in D minor, Op. 54, MWV U156
Variations serieuses in D minor, Op. 54
Felix Mendelssohn: Lieder ohne Worte (Songs without Words), Book 8, Op. 102
Lieder ohne Worte (Songs without Words), Book 8, Op. 102: No. 5 in A major, "Kinderstuck"
Felix Mendelssohn: 3 Caprices, Op. 33
No. 2 in E major
No. 3 in B flat minor
Mendelssohn - Lieder, S547/R217 (7 Lieder from Mendelssohn, Op, 19a, 34, 47)
Mendelssohn - Lieder, S547/R217 (7 Lieder from Mendelssohn, Op, 19a, 34, 47): Suleika (from Op. 34, No. 4)
Felix Mendelssohn: Lieder ohne Worte (Songs without Words), Op. 67
No. 2 in F sharp minor
No. 5 in B minor
Felix Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 61 (arr. S. Rachmaninov)
A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 61: I. Scherzo (arr. S. Rachmaninov for piano)
2010
“There was a time in the 19th century when Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words were regularly regarded as the third great collection of piano music after Beethoven's 32 sonatas and Bach's 48 Preludes and Fugues. While Chopin's piano music is still dominant, Mendelssohn's star as a pianist-composer has faded. It is a splendid idea of the young Toulouse-born French pianist Bertrand Chamayou to choose five of the most striking Songs Without Words and make them a centrepiece for what he describes as a 'Liederabend without words'. The Songs Without Words are among the least difficult of the pieces here technically, but the other pieces are much more demanding, not just the two bigger pieces, the Variations sérieuses and the Rondo capriccioso, but such pieces as the ThreeStudies. It says much for Chamayou's virtuosity and artistry that he makes the results so magnetic. He opens with a brief and powerful Prelude in B minor, leading to a sparkling account of the Rondo capriccioso bringing out echoes of the Scherzo from A Midsummer Night's Dream, which right at the end of the recital comes as a tailpiece in Rachmaninov's arrangement. The articulation in the Three Studies is phenomenally clear and light, as it is too in Chamayou's dazzling account of the Caprices. There are similar qualities in the longest and most ambitious of the pieces, the Variations sérieuses. Along with the Songs Without Words it is good too to have Liszt's surprisingly unshowy arrangements of Mendelssohn's most famous Lied, 'On Wings of Song'. Clean, clear sound to match the playing.”
October 2008
“The Songs Without Words are among the least difficult of the pieces here technically, but the other pieces are much more demanding… It says much for Chamayou's virtuosity and artistry that he makes the results so magnetic.”
Click on any of the works listed above for alternative recordings.
3 Preludes, Op. 104a: Prelude in B minor
