Mendelssohn: Song without Words, Op. 62 No. 1 in G major 'May Breezes'

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy is regarded as the inventor of the ‘Songs without Words’ genre. He wrote eight volumes, each containing six Songs without Words. Michael Korstick performs these genial atmospheric pieces, which are all too often only heard only as encores, with a dazzling interpretive guise.

For the main work on this album of American recordings made at the time of the Great War, Bach’s Double Concerto in D minor (slightly abridged to fit on three 78rpm sides, Kreisler is joined by the Russian violinist Efrem Zimbalist. The Appendix features three tracks with soprano Geraldine Farrar and the only surviving recording of Kreisler-as-pianist, playing Dvorak’s Humoresque.

Producer and Audio Restoration Producer: Ward Marston

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy was the last great 19th century composer whose works were not completely listed. In the Mendelssohn anniversary year of 2009 this loophole has been closed thanks to the publishing of the Leipzig Edition of the works of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy by the Saxon Academy of Sciences in Leipzig. It was only in 2007/2008, as a result of research work that the musical public first gained awareness of among other pieces, 61 of a total of 115 songs composed for voice and piano.

The "forgotten" songs included in this CD date from throughout the composer’s entire creative period, and demonstrate superbly the many facets, colours and richness of ideas of his musical creations.

The songs have been combined with a completely different artistic genre, one which was Mendelssohn’s own: the songs without words - lyrical piano pieces with vocal style melodies.

"This project was most appealing to Gitti and myself. We were aware of the existence, albeit fragmental, of some unpublished songs, but we were absolutely astonished when as a result of the complete Mendelssohn Edition a entirely new volume of Lieder came to light. We played and sang through the works with great enthusiasm and the thrill that comes from exploring, selected some of them, and took great joy in recording the ones we had chosen." Klaus Mertens

This album is a treasure trove for music lovers and performers alike.

The recording was made using the songs as published by Bärenreiter: Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Lieder für hohe und mittlere Stimme und Klavier (Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, songs for high and medium voice and piano). Edited by Eugene Asti, Bärenreiter Edition, Kassel 2008 (BA 9085).

This piano duo received excellent reviews for their CD of Mendelssohn’s Double Piano Concertos (OC739). In this piece Sivan Silver and Gil Garburg unfold their many-side spectrum of musical colours to illustrate the action. “…Silver Garburg is an exceptionally musically inspired piano pair that shapes the score very grippingly and gives it unexpected brilliance.” Süddeutsche Zeitung

For Silke Avenhaus the fundamental goal is “to make the piano sing”, listening closely to melodic lines and differentiating them with a wide range of tone colours. Such a conception of timbre ideally fits her personal choice of repertoire including a selection from Mendelssohn’s Songs Without Words and Liszt’s arrangements of Schubert Lieder.

In the 18th Century composers often simplified the orchestral part of their own concertos so as to be able to play them in private circles, replacing the orchestra with a string quartet. Today, Cord Garben has taken this very liberty to bring out a version of Mendelssohn’s Concertos opus 25 and 40 in which a string quartet (with added double bass) replaces the orchestra. The clarity and lightness of the music are as enchanting as in the original version, possibly even more so.