performed by Rudolf Serkin and the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy (cover image by Irene Ortiz) It’s been some time since we’ve seen Mendelssohn around these parts, already more than a year, actually. That won’t do. We shan’t be giving … Continue reading Mendelssohn Piano Concerto no. 1 in Gm, op. 25
with Leonidas Kavakos under Herbert Blomstedt Well, add one more to the list. Yet another world-class orchestra comes through Taipei, with a world-class conductor and soloist. I’ll be honest. When I heard about this concert many months ago, my first … Continue reading Gewandhausorchester Leipzig in Taiwan
performed by the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra under Riccardo Chailly or (very) alternatively, here by Klemperer and the Philharmonia, which I’ll talk about below “In the deep twilight we went today to the palace were Queen Mary lived and loved…The chapel below … Continue reading Mendelssohn Symphony no. 3 in Am, op. 56 ‘Scottish’
performed by the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Chamber Ensemble, or below by the Prazak Quartet and Zemlinsky Quartet (in a recording I chose not for the sound quality but the engaging experience of watching only eight people … Continue reading Mendelssohn String Octet in E flat, op. 20
featuring Kirill Gerstein Welcome back, everyone! I met a certain fellow concertgoer (and at least occasional reader) formally for the first time this evening while we stood in line to meet Gerstein and Maestro Varga. The gentleman, who I see … Continue reading TSO’s Season Opening Concert
performed by the Talich Quartet, or below in a nice performance from the Halcyon Music Festival with a small introduction The opening of this work seems like such a mature, polished, well-executed work for a young, early composition like a first string … Continue reading Mendelssohn String Quartet no. 1 in E flat, op. 12
performed by the Talich quartet To be clear, this is not Mendelssohn’s String Quartet no. 1 (which is confusingly also in E-flat major) but it is his first string quartet. This one was written in 1823, but not published until 1879. At the time of writing, the fourteen-year … Continue reading Mendelssohn String Quartet in E-flat, (posth.)
performed by the London Symphony Orchestra under Claudio Abbado So while the first three string symphonies this week might not have been riveting, life-changing works, or really anything I’d put on more than background music of some kind, they are … Continue reading Mendelssohn Symphony No. 1 in Cm, Op. 11,
performed by the Amsterdam Sinfonietta under Lev Markiz, or below by the Northern Chamber Orchestra under Nicholas Ward Here we are at our third and final string symphony for the week, digging into early Mendelssohn stuff. Number three is the … Continue reading Mendelssohn String Symphony no. 3 in E minor
performed by the Amsterdam Sinfonietta under Lev Markiz, or below by the Northern Chamber Orchestra under Nicholas Ward So here’s the second of these dozen little symphonies. I won’t have a ton to say about them, I don’t think, but … Continue reading Mendelssohn String Symphony no. 2 in D major
performed by the Amsterdam Sinfonietta under Lev Markiz, or below by the Northern Chamber Orchestra under Nicholas Ward I’d originally intended to do two of Mendy’s actual numbered symphonies this week, and then put on the breaks when I realized they … Continue reading Mendelssohn String Symphony No. 1 in C major
aka Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy “Musical prodigies … are probably no longer so rare; but what this little man can do in extemporizing and playing at sight borders the miraculous, and I could not have believed it possible at so early … Continue reading Influential People: Felix Mendelssohn
Just a week after having finally heard Mahler 2 in concert, we pack into the same hall for a different ensemble and conductor but the same incredible chorus and an equally packed audience. This piece was also part of my season … Continue reading Concert Review: NSO’s Elias
performed by the Royal Philharmonic under Thomas Beecham, Jascha Heifetz, violin It’s been piano, piano, piano… Concertos, sonatas, other stuff. Was definitely on a piano kick for a while, and still have lots of other pieces on the back burner that didn’t … Continue reading Felix Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in Em, op. 64
Fugue for Thought 