Mendelssohn

[Flay]

It was maddening to listen to on Radio 4 this morning. The presenter kept on talking over it. Why could she not have merely introduced it then let us listen? After all it was only a very short piece. So I cannot comment on the music at all.

[Flay]

Aha, I see it is uninterrupted in the link above. Simple and pleasant enough.

[LeMartinPecheur]

Mendelssohn's Wings of a Dove (Hear, Ear!!)

Did anyone hear The Choir this weekend, in particular the German version of the above?

Must confess that I didn't know that the original version was auf Deutsch and that therefore M (presumably) wasn't to blame for that ghastly overlap in the standard English version betwixt soloist and chorus at "O God incline thine (H)ear my prayer..."!

Have been appalled by that since first acquaintance with the work as a schoolboy bass...

[Flosshilde]

a schoolboy bass...

Does that involve an opperation that's the opposite of the one required to produce a castrato?

[doversoul1]

Does that involve an opperation that's the opposite of the one required to produce a castrato?

There’s a story on the Missa Corona Spinea thread on The Choir about a treble getting married.

[LeMartinPecheur]

Does that involve an opperation that's the opposite of the one required to produce a castrato?

In my day and my school, one was still a schoolboy in the Upper 6th! And probably even after that..

[Flosshilde]

[Barbirollians]

Mendelssohn Chamber music for strings

Reading the BBCMM Mendelssohn feature on the train today the writer of the article praised Mendelssohn's string quartets and quintets neither of which I own. As BBCMM tends to recommend very odd versions of most works I wondered what forumites would recommend I see Gramophone are very keen on the Mandelring Quartet on Audite . I am sure in the old days it was the Melos Quartet on DG that was the commonly recommended version of the quartets .

Also where should I start with this music ?

[mikealdren]

Sorry don't know the quintets but I have 2 sets of the quartets, the Ysaye and (on LP) the Melos. The Ysaye are good, there may well be better but they are a well recorded and economical, a good introduction.

Where to start, well Mendelssohn really was precocious and the early quartets are in no way inferior, Start at the beginning (IIRC Op.12 was actually written after Op.13)

Mike

[EdgeleyRob]

Start with the Quintets.
There's a marvellous Naxos cd of both works (also includes the original minuet of the first one which was later discarded by FM).
They really are super works and it's hard to imagine better performances than these,Fine Arts Quartet with Danilo Rossi on 2nd Viola.
I don't know the other recordings.
Listen out for the MSND and Octet like Scherzo of the A Major work and the heart wrenchingly moving slow movement of the B Flat.
Surely Brahms must have known these pieces when he wrote his own String Quintets.

In the olden days it was Melos for the Quartets,a really good set of course,nowadays it's the Henschel Qt for me,not enough superlatives to describe this set.
Also includes the four pieces Op 81 (not all complete sets do).
Straight in at the deep end here Barbs with the towering masterpiece that is Op 80,a match for any late LvB IMVHO

[vinteuil]

... for the quartets the Eroica (I think 3 CDs) or the Mosaiques (who I think only did one)..

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00000I438

.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000066AM5

.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0009G6MZM

.

.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0000269M5

There is a useful 10 CD complete chamber music box from Brilliant, and a 5 CD box from EMI - providing a good intro...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00008GQFF

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00008GQFF

[Stanfordian]

Reading the BBCMM Mendelssohn feature on the train today the writer of the article praised Mendelssohn's string quartets and quintets neither of which I own. As BBCMM tends to recommend very odd versions of most works I wondered what forumites would recommend I see Gramophone are very keen on the Mandelring Quartet on Audite . I am sure in the old days it was the Melos Quartet on DG that was the commonly recommended version of the quartets .

Also where should I start with this music ?

In the Mendelssohn string quartets I always reach first for the complete set from the Henschel Quartet on Arte Nova, which was deleted much to the chagrin to the quartet, and there may be some left available new but certainly second hand. They were released singly too. The Pacifica are excellent too and also the Emerson.

[teamsaint]

something to savour.

[gurnemanz]

Cherubinis are excellent on a good value EMI threefer. Now reissued by Warner.

[BBMmk2]

I do rather like JEGGER's recordings of Mendelssohn's Symphonies. I always liked abbado's! But having heard JEGGER's, I think he has them in a nutshell. The work I am interested in is Elijah, at the moment. What is the b est version?