MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger


REVIEW


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 

alternatively
CD: AmazonUK AmazonUS


Felix MENDELSSOHN (1809-1847)
Songs and Duets - volume 4
Frühlingsglaube op.9 No.8. (1830); Der Verlassene (1821); Seltsam, Mutter, geht es mir (1825); Der Wasserfall (1824/5); Glosse (1825); Vier Lieder: (1830); Der Tag / Reiterlied / Abschied / Der Bettler Am Seegestad' in lauen Vollmondsnachten (1823); Durch Fichten am Hügel (1823); Ich denke dein wenn durch den Hain (1823); Tanzt dem schönen Mai entgegen (1823/4); Faunenklage (1823); Im Grünen op.8 No.11 (1827); Reiselied (fragment completed by Eugene Asti) (1831); Abschied (1830s); Hüt du dich (1834/5); Die Nachtigall (1821); Gruss (1840); Warum sind denn die Rosen so blass? (fragment completed by Eugene Asti) (1834); Rausche leise grünes Dach (1824); Erinnerung (1841); Maienlied op.8 No.7 (1827); Andres Maienlied 'Hexenlied' op.8 (1827)
Guildhall School of Music and Drama: Katherine Broderick (soprano); Hannah Morrison (soprano); Anna Grevelius (mezzo); Finnur Bjarnason (tenor); Stephen Loges (baritone); Eugene Asti (piano)
rec. Concert Hall, Wyastone Estates, Monmouth, England, 8-12 November 2008. DDD
HYPERION CDA 67739 [67:17]
Experience Classicsonline


This is the fourth Guildhall School CD of Mendelssohn Songs and Duets. The series is the inspiration of Eugene Asti who has researched and sourced this rare material. This disc comprises songs - and no duets - that range between 1820 and 1841. Some of the dates are imprecise because their source is often unpublished, undated manuscripts found in obscure places. Der Wasserfall for instance came up for auction at Sotheby's in 2007 and was sold to the Staatsbibliothek in Berlin. It is believed to be a fine discovery for Mendelssohn scholarship. This song is one of the many Mendelssohn settings of words by his close friend, the diplomat Karl Klingemann (1798-1862). Mendelssohn remarked to the poet: 'When I get poems from you, I have the feeling that I don't need to make music ... it is as if the music is there before me ...'

These songs are from a period when Mendelssohn was in his mid-teens to his early thirties. An immaturity of style pervades some of the early pieces, but this provides an interesting benchmark to indicate the way the composer shaped his musical horizons. Mendelssohn would have been conscious that he was following in the shadow of the eminent Schubert the bulk of whose vast number of popular songs came from only five years earlier. Mendelssohn's style is varied and he even anticipates those musical characteristics which we sometimes associate with Schumann and, later, Debussy.

Certain items from this 25 song disc require special mention: Mendelssohn wrote only one song-cycle, and this is recorded here. He modestly entitles it, Vier Lieder (Four Songs). The songs chart the life of a man through periods of joy and happiness to neglect and sorrow. The singer first recalls the happy days of childhood with its youthful years of yearning and hope. The second song concerns a horseback journey to reach his heart's desire. In the third, a call to war to support the Fatherland severs the lovers' tie. A final homecoming, as a beggar, brings an awareness of his lover's suffering at his absence. Seeing her from a distance makes him wonder whether he has the courage to renew his love. In composition the first song is provided with a joyful, rippling accompaniment, but the voice line seems rather heavy for the description being made in the lyric's sentimental reminiscences. The second song is more appropriate to the subject matter: the choppy, galloping rhythm and anticipation of a hopeful greeting at the end of the journey. Finnur Bjarnason puts both energy and appropriate sentimental colour into his warm-toned singing of this cycle. Mendelssohn anticipates Schumann; maybe Schumann followed Mendelssohn's lead.

The descriptively evocative Seegestad in lauen Vollmondsnachten (By the lake shore, on warm moonlit nights) would suggest more of a tone poem treatment. For me, Mendelssohn here is rather ordinary, lacking in colour and missing an opportunity for evoking a serene musical landscape. Stephen Loges does his best to engage the listener. Hannah Morrison in Durch Fichten Am Hügel sings delightfully with an innocence suggested by a light voice and little vibrato. Her diction and timing are spot-on. In the high key setting of Im Grünen, Katherine Broderick has to soar. This she does effortlessly and retains a good legato to lyrics concerned with hillside wanderings. Der Wasserfall is a stirring and fast-moving piece that benefits from the momentum Katherine Broderick and Eugene Asti give it. Mendelssohn is probably at his best here with an addictively descriptive accompaniment that at times predicts the French school of Debussy and Ravel. This is perhaps my favourite among the songs presented. It bears full testimony to the remark made (above) by Mendelssohn to Karl Klingemann, the poet who supplied the lyrics.

The support of Anna Grevelius and Stephen Loges is excellent. The recital enjoys a good acoustic and the piano is never swamped by the voice. The booklet contains good notes by Susan Youens and lyrics are provided in English, German and French.

Raymond J Walker

 
 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.