Oh dear Felix....

[Braunschlag]

At the risk of perhaps annoying some folks I'd like to propose that the Mendelssohn Organ 'Sonatas' (sic) be permanently consigned to room 101.
I'll get my coat soon but I really can't see the worth of these pieces. Compared to his earlier stuff they pale into insignificance, second-rate vesper voluntarism at best and really not representative of his real ability, (think Octet, chamber music, piano music).
Is it the case that they are held mistakenly aloft simply because they are the only organ pieces vaguely romantic by a reputable composer of his era - and there's precious little else to compare it with. Reubke (one-hit wonder), Liszt (and don't they go on and on), odds and sods of Schumann and let's not forget the interminable and uneven Rheinberger.
Just wondering if I'm a lone voice (or even wolf) but I really don't see that it's worth th effort learning it when there's so little reward.
All in the best possible taste of course and apologies if I've just trashed your 100 best tunes.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I disagree strongly! I find his Piano Music equally repulsive.

[Bryn]

I disagree strongly! I find his Piano Music equally repulsive.

I'm with Fred re. at least some of it:

[Braunschlag]

I disagree strongly! I find his Piano Music equally repulsive.

To clarify - maybe just the one piece that perhaps cuts the mustard, the Rondo Capriccioso. Well, I like it anyway.

[jayne lee wilson]

These are really beautiful too...... why do you think they get recorded so often...?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dpopular&field-keywords=Mendelssohn+variations+sérieuses&rh=n%3A229816%2Ck%3AMendelssohn+variations+sérieuses

[greenilex]

Thanks - I had forgotten the Songs Without Words.

[Dave2002]

These are really beautiful too...... why do you think they get recorded so often...?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb...ons+sérieuses

Thanks - I didn't know about the Variations Sérieuses to which I'm now listening

http://open.qobuz.com/album/0761203751921

Mendelssohn was a genius - though Elijah and St Paul are a bit hard to take (but could just "be me"!). I don't have a major problem with his keyboard writing - for piano at least. Less sure about his organ works - which seems to be where this thread started.

Also try - http://open.qobuz.com/album/9079700700092 for performances on a fortepiano.

[cloughie]

Mendelssohn was a genius - though Elijah and St Paul are a bit hard to take (but could just "be me"!).

...and the choral bit of Sym 2 also, although I think that they are probably more enjoyable if you are singing them rather than listening, although to date I have not sung them.

[rauschwerk]

I'm not an organist but I have heard three of these sonatas (why the inverted commas?) and I think the A major is an excellent piece and the D minor well worth an occasional hearing.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Thanks - I had forgotten the Songs Without Words.

I wish I could.

[gradus]

I wish I could.

Often hard to put into words (without songs) but is there a reason(s)?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Often hard to put into words (without songs) but is there a reason(s)?

Twee. That's probably an oversimplification, but after a couple of these pieces my brain finds itself digging an escape tunnel in my skull. Victorian twee; just as Mendelssohn's Organ Music strikes me - with GBH - as Victorian dull.

But I avoid it all - there are many more works by Mendelssohn that delight my spirits, and plenty of early-mid 19th Century piano works by Chopin, Schumann, and Alkan (cheers, Edgey ) to keep me very happily absent from Mendelssohn.

(I'm not keen on a lot of Organ Music written after 1750 - though I do enjoy watching organists at work. I think the sound of the darn things is better from the organ loft, generally.)

[BBMmk2]

Braunschlag, I hope you have your coat handy.

[Braunschlag]

I'm not an organist but I have heard three of these sonatas (why the inverted commas?) and I think the A major is an excellent piece and the D minor well worth an occasional hearing.

Inverted commas - because they're not really sonatas as one might know them. Taking the A major (incidentally that's the one I dislike the most, but there's no accounting for my poor taste), it's one fairly bulky first movement followed by the most saccharine piffle, a real non climax unworthy of even the most insignificant Caleb Simper voluntary.
Told you I wasn't a fan. Maybe it's all a bit of a childhood trauma. I managed to shake off three organ teachers who attempted to force this stuff into my lessons on the grounds that it was standard repertoire. I didn't see it their way at all and couldn't grasp why it was so lauded, and still can't to this day. Same goes for the Elgar Sonata but I'll save that for another rainy day

[Braunschlag]

Braunschlag, I hope you have your coat handy.

I'm getting it, I'm getting it!