BaL 1.06.19 - Mendelssohn: Symphony no. 4 "Italian"

[vinteuil]

Μπορούμε να γράψουμε μηνύματα σε άλλες γλώσσες σε αυτό το φόρουμ

... indeed so! I remember on the old BBC boards being chastised and having one of my witty entries deleted coz I used a forrin word. It was a breath of fresh air to enter the free pastures of For3..



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[Eine Alpensinfonie]

... indeed so! I remember on the old BBC boards being chastised and having one of my witty entries deleted coz I used a forrin word. It was a breath of fresh air to enter the free pastures of For3..



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I remember it well.

[mikealdren]

Poor Schubert, Mendelssohn, and Mozart: they all died young. They're all great composers but all were cut off in their prime and in each case, their last works suggested greater glories to come.

Mozart and Schubert both wrote many of their greatest works in their last years, even in their last year. However I'm not sure that's really true of Mendelssohn, apart from his Violin Concerto (and Elijah which I don't like!), his finest works were written some time before his death and even the Violin Concerto was 3 years before his death.

[vinteuil]

Mozart and Schubert both wrote many of their greatest works in their last years, even in their last year. However I'm not sure that's really true of Mendelssohn, apart from his Violin Concerto (and Elijah which I don't like!), his finest works were written some time before his death and even the Violin Concerto was 3 years before his death.

... and the the String Quartet No 6 in F minor, Op. 80, composed two months before his death in 1847?

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[verismissimo]

... and the the String Quartet No 6 in F minor, Op. 80, composed two months before his death in 1847?

.

A+

[edashtav]

... and the the String Quartet No 6 in F minor, Op. 80, composed two months before his death in 1847?

.

If one wishes to establish that Mendelssohn was a great composer, a quick listen to the first contrapuntal minute of the early Octet followed by any movement from his final string quartet should suffice to still doubts.

[Master Jacques]

In his last three years he was progressively ill from overwork, a sick man being kept too busy writing salon pieces, songs and church works for the lucrative London market, and reviving/conducting Elijah and older composers' work - something of a cash-yielding sabbatical, if you like - until returning to the fray with that incomparable Op.80 quartet. That alas was the final flare. There's no evidence that he was running out of inspiration, quite the reverse. He simply ran out of time, and vitality.

[jayne lee wilson]

Well, rfg, your views are your own and you are free to air them. I disagree with you! How can a composer who has given us so much music that has that ‘good to be alive’ feeling about it be deemed a 2nd rate composer? I admit that some of his long choral works go on a bit and I would not want to sit through one, and the lovely, lively Sinfonia from Sym 2, probably the work goes downhill a bit after the choral movements enter!

The choral entry Alles was odem hat is one of the greatest Mendelssohn moments yes, but - gosh, doesn't the gorgeous soprano duet/chorus ich harrete des herrn even do it for you?
(Tellingly sung in English (Sophie & Mary Bevan, CBSO Chorus, heavenly) on the CBSO/Gardner recording, another glorious winner!).

Then that hushed soprano preparation for the great choral outburst on the night is departing...!
Thrilling moments!
I think the close thematic integration of this work is often overlooked - the introductory theme feeds all the way through in various transformations.

[jayne lee wilson]

I listened live and whilst I agree with the thrust if your remarks, Master Jaques, Oliver, as the heart of his name suggests, was lively and quite witty. I instance his accurate, and deadly, characterisation of John Eliot Gardiner's interpretation.

You mean Condy's comment about JEG being "schoolmasterish" or a "strict tourist guide", and "are we having fun yet" etc.?
But isn't that a pretty clichéd view of JEG already? How often have we heard such things, so often contradicted by getting to know the actual recordings (especially the later ORR or LSO releases, but the VPO Mendelssohn 4th surprised me with its explicit warmth of expression...)

Subjective as ever, yes, but I bought the LSO/JEG on release and as I've made clear above, loved it straight away, but - going back to it comparatively against so many other good performances over the week, it only got better as I went along, hearing it often in itself and comparatively. If anything I was surprised how it kept coming through, refreshing my ears with its purity and liveliness and yes - joy...for me he really does release the music, rather than imposing upon it. (as I said, I'm not too fussed about the tone-painting side of things, or how "Italian" or "German" it supposedly sounds...if I use words like wit or charm etc it is very much an abstract musical quality I'm trying to evoke, metaphorically or not).

Self-evidently in warm agreement with Condy's final choices, also bought on release (was it really as long ago as 2014 for the Gardner? Tempus scarily fugit...what am I doing with my life?).
He used one very strange expression about Gardner's andante: "we're really in the goldilocks zone here"....
Still wondering what it meant....well, apart from liking it a lot....

[Joseph K]

He used one very strange expression about Gardner's andante: "we're really in the goldilocks zone here"....
Still wondering what it meant....well, apart from liking it a lot....

"... Just right"?

[Master Jacques]

"... Just right"?

That seems to be it. To quote Wikipedia "The Goldilocks Zone refers to the habitable zone around a star where the temperature is just right - not too hot and not too cold - for liquid water to exist on an planet."

I rather hoped it might be something to do with listening to Mendelssohn whilst cross-dressing, but one can't have everything.

[ardcarp]

If one wishes to establish that Mendelssohn was a great composer, a quick listen to the first contrapuntal minute of the early Octet followed by any movement from his final string quartet should suffice to still doubts.

Elijah, though much loved by choral societies, is perhaps not Mendelssohn at his best in absolute terms, but shows his ability to adapt to popular tastes.
The tenor solo 'If with all your hearts' is a bit of a gift. It's earned me a few quid over the years.

[Edgy 2]

... and the the String Quartet No 6 in F minor, Op. 80, composed two months before his death in 1847?

.

Magnificent,Mendelssohn's greatest work ?
If it's not up there with late Beethoven can any knowledgeable forumista explain to me why.

[Stanfordian]

Magnificent,Mendelssohn's greatest work ?
If it's not up there with late Beethoven can any knowledgeable forumista explain to me why.

If you think it is, then it is! It's about that you admire surely.

[jayne lee wilson]

Magnificent,Mendelssohn's greatest work ?
If it's not up there with late Beethoven can any knowledgeable forumista explain to me why.

Mendelssohn at his greatest - inspired, intense, original, but above all - telling his own emotional truth...
(Which as Edge and I know so well.... he'd always done, since Op.11, 12 and 13.....at least)