PASC052:
Concerto in D minor for Violin and Strings - Mendelssohn
MP3
price
Yehudi
Menuhin, violin
Philharmonia Orchestra
Conducted by Sir Adrian Boult
Recorded
in 1953, released as HMV ALP 1085
Download ID: 223708
(Duration
23'32")
Play
sample movement:
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 1 of 8
Music written in 1822 at age 14
"The
Newly Discovered Mendelssohn Concerto"
It was in London last May 1951 where, through the kind offices of my friend,
the distinguished dealer in antique books and manuscripts, Mr. A. Rosenthal
of Oxford, I was introduced to a manuscript bearing the title "Concerto"
and inscribed with the following words by Ferdinand David in German: "Received
as a gift from Frau Cecile Mendelssohn Bartholdy on May 24, 1853."
... He was just short of fourteen years of age when he captured these
impulsive and lyrical melodies which were to remain unheard for over a
century... The work was written for [his] great friend of his youthful
years, his violin teacher E. Rietz. - Yehudi Menuhin, 1952
Thus our
musical tale begins - with a lost score for an early piece, and here,
its premiere recording newly remastered by Peter Harrison. Musically it
shows the huge promise Mendelssohn showed as a youth. The outer movements
both show the clear influence of Mozart and Haydn in style and form, though
Mendelssohn does play with the traditional structure of the recapitulation
of the first movement, with no pause for a candenza and the two themes
reappearing in reverse order.
However
it is in the middle movement, the Adagio non troppo available here
to download in full by clicking on the Play button, that we start to hear
the voice of Mendelssohn's lyrical mature style for perhaps the first
time.
By this
early stage in his life his compositional talents were already being recognised
by his teacher, Zelter, who the previous year had introduced him to the
poet Goethe, beginning a friendship which was to last for many years and
greatly affect the composer. A second visit followed in 1822, the year
of this compositions; a year later Zelter wrote to Goethe: "In
everything he gains, an even force and power are now hardly wanting; everything
comes from within him, and the external things of the day only affect
him externally. Imagine my joy, if we survive, to see the boy living in
the fulfilment of all that his childhood gives promise of."
