PACM037:
Sonata for Violin and Piano (1838) - Mendelssohn
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Yehudi
Menuhin, violin
Gerald Moore, piano
Recorded
in 1953, issued as HMV ALP 1085
Download ID: 223711, 434944
(Duration
19'44")
Play
sample movement:
"...what is particularly remarkable is not that they are “timeless” performances in the sense of being fine classical pieces, but that Menuhin was as consistently interesting an artist at age 19 as he was at age 36. The ecstatic opening lines of the violin in the Beethoven are matched by the equally impassioned playing of the Mendelssohn, which in a sense was a “world premiere.” Menuhin had been given a photostat copy of the original manuscript, and no evidence has been found that this sonata was ever played except perhaps by Mendelssohn and a friend (or family member) the year it was written. Certainly, this was its world premiere recording...
The Mendelssohn, aside from being an excellent piece, also gives us a very rare glimpse of Gerald Moore as a chamber-music partner. The famed accompanist was well known for his work with singers, but seldom ventured into the realm of sonata work. This is unfortunate. His playing here is exuberant, crystal-clear, and a good foil for the violinist’s rhapsodic lyricism. Also, Moore’s penchants for structural clarity and brisk tempos help move the music and keep it from becoming languorous or thick. Menuhin, sadly, does have moments in each performance where he goes a bit flat, but for most listeners this is easy to overlook in the face of such artistry." - Fanfare, March/April 2008
Introduction:
Felix Mendelssohn was born in Hamburg, Germany on 3rd February, 1809 into
a distinguished and afflluent family of bankers, intellectuals and artists.
A child prodigy, he produced his first composition in 1820; a constant
stream of work continued throughout his relatively short life - he died
in Leipzig on 4th November, 1847 at the age of just 38. These notes, which
accompany Pristine Audio's Mendelssohn Edition, released to mark the 160th
anniversary of his oratio Elijah,
our first award-winning release for Divine Art, follow Mendelssohn's life
through eight compositions newly remastered for August 2006.
The
Mendelssohn Trail - Part 4 of 8
Music composed 1838
"Sonata
in F Major"
This work finished June 15, 1838... has never been published, and the
original manuscript is the only source of the photostat copy which has
come into my possession. This Sonata fills a great gap in violin literature
as there is only one other work which Mendelssohn wrote for violin and
piano - an earlier sonata in F minor.
-
Yehudi Menuhin, 1952
In his
statement, Menuhin does not refer to a very early sonata, written before
the age of 10; the early sonata he does mention, Op. 4, was written in
1925 at the age of 16. Thus here we have a highly important piece of music,
written but not published, and effectively lost for over 110 years. This
is surprising - in the opinion of biographer Philip Radcliffe, "The
Sonata as a whole is one of the best instrumental works of its period,
and it is surprising that its composer did not consider it worth of publication."
Mendelssohn
did write and publish a Cello Sonata in the same year (Op. 45), as well
as two string quartets (Op. 44) - clearly a good year for chamber music.
By this stage he was installed at Leipzig, having moved there in 1835
to take charge of the Gewandhaus Orchestra, championing both historical
and modern works - of the former he is particularly well known for reviving
interest in the music of Bach; in 1838 he was also championing Naumann
(1741-1801), Righini (1756-1812) and Vogler (1696-1765),
all of whom have once more been virtually forgotten. But take a listen
to the brilliant finale in the example given here - a superb piece
of writing which uses a constant interweaving of the two parts to greater
effect than many of his later finales in a similar vein - and you will
surely agree that this is one aspect of Mendelssohn's work in 1838 that
did not deserve to be forgotten.
The
Mendelssohn Trail - on to part 5
Back to start
REVIEW
OF:
Mendelssohn: Trio #1 in D Minor (Santoliquido
Trio) (1955); Trio #2 in C Minor (Zilcher Trio) (1930); Violin
Sonata in F (1838) (Menuhin, Moore) (1953)
These
are three very fine works that give the lie to the view that
Mendelssohn was "played out" in his later years.
It is true that many of the later compositions (the later
Songs Without Words, the Organ Sonatas, etc.) are not first
class compositions. They are plagued by Mendelssohn's fatal
fluency, his thinking with his fingers and not with his head
and heart. These three works are almost entirely free of that.
The
Trio #1 in D Minor is a mostly superb work and has
greatly outshone its sister trio (#2) in popularity if not
quality. Much of its popularity is due to the magnificently
sweeping opening cello theme of the first movement. It is
ironic that the piano part, which has, it seems, thousands
of arpeggios, never really gets to play a primary role. It's
constant motion moves things forward without saying anything
on its own. Under lesser pianists, its endless chattering
can become tiresome. Not so under the Santoliquido Trio. They
open the work rather more slowly and somberly than usual,
but soon rise to powerful climaxes. To make up for the first
movement, the piano takes the lead in all three splendid remaining
movements with the Santoliquido playing the third movement
with great panache. One notices that wonderful integration
of the playing in this trio, usually only a characteristic
of ensembles that have been together a long time. The trio
was formed in Rome in 1942, made a few very fine records,
but never achieved the international prominence they deserved.
The sound is entirely worthy of the performance-clean, noisefree
and rich.
The
Pristine Audio editor has suggested that the Trio #2 in
C Minor, the neglected younger sister of the D Minor,
may actually be a finer work. Though it has no such sweeping
melody as the opening of #1, its material is actually richer
and bolder and the working out is often more imaginative.
The first movement opens with the piano giving out a restless
and really minorish theme. A triumphant theme in the major
follows. The development is ingenious in manipulating the
themes. The coda is wonderful, inspired, touching. The second
movement does not match the first in quality, sounding an
extended song without words although played with great feeling
by the Zilcher Trio. The third movement is another Mendlssohnian
exercise with fairies and elves and the Zilcher give a quicksilver
lightness to it. The finale really sounds like a finale with
emphatic themes and a sense of real completion at the end.
The Zilcher Trio is new to me and they are a superb ensemble.
I am quite thrilled with the playing of the trio. Pristine
Audio has reprocessed the 1930 sound so that it has plenty
of bite and warmth.
The
Violin Sonata (1838) is almost unknown, but deserves
to be ranked with the three Schumann sonatas, though not with
the Brahms' works. The first movement begins with a stalwart
Mendelssohnian pronouncement (meant to be powerful but not
completely convincing) and continues with a yielding second
theme. The development begins on a soft note but does a good
job of dissecting the opening theme.
There
is a brilliant and extended coda which Menuhin plays very
well. The second movement presents a pensive theme on the
piano, beautifully restated on the violin which then modules
to a second theme. There is considerable agitation in the
middle part. A rapid, moto perpetuo finale which never stops
spinning finishes the sonata. Menuhin and Moore do excellent
justice to this this work which deserves to be better known.
The sound is clear and, for my taste, unexceptionable.
It
has been a real privilege to rehear these Mendelssohn's chamber
works, particularly to gain a greater appreciation of the
Trio #2
