Mendelssohn, Fanny: Allegro molto in C minor

Starting with the first floating tones on the new GENUIN CD with the cycle "The Year", composed by Mendelssohn's sister Fanny upon completing a journey to Italy, one feels transported into another time period. Els Bieseman's Fortepiano debut CD set exactly those strings in vibration that have been lost on the new, well-equipped modern concert grand. The dark, dreamlike sound of the Pleyel grand (that Liszt & company enthused over…) beautifully fits the transparent, structured and always supple playing of the young Belgian musician. Wonderfully romantic music in which a splendid musician allows us to take part!

It is only relatively recently that Fanny Mendelssohn has stepped out of the shadow of her more famous sibling Felix.

Nearly all of her five hundred or so compositions remained unpublished during her lifetime, despite their undeniable beauty, lyricism and passion.

This volume of piano music spans almost her entire adult life, from youthful experiments to music written less than a year before her untimely death, giving the listener a whirlwind tour of a much underrated composer.