Composer: Felix Mendelssohn
Performer: Peter Donohoe
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Chandos
Catalogue: CHAN20267
Release: 2023
Size: 1.21 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
01. 17 Variations sérieuses in D Minor, Op. 54, MWV U 156
Lied ohne Worte, Op. 38
02. No. 3 in E Major, MWV U 107
03. No. 4 in A Major, MWV U 120
Lied ohne Worte, Op. 19b
04. No. 5 in F-Sharp Minor / Major, MWV U 90
Lied ohne Worte, Op. 30
05. No. 5 in D Major, MWV U 97
Lied ohne Worte, Op. 53
06. No. 6 in A Major, MWV U 154
Lied ohne Worte, Op. 30
07. No. 6 in F-Sharp Minor, MWV U 110 “Venetian Gondola Song”
Lied ohne Worte, Op. 102
08. No. 5 in A Major, MWV U 194 “Piece for Children”
Lied ohne Worte, Op. 85
09. No. 4 in D Major, MWV U 190
Lied ohne Worte, Op. 102
10. No. 4 in G Minor, MWV U 152
Lied ohne Worte, Op. 85
11. No. 6 in B-Flat Major, MWV U 155
Lied ohne Worte, Op. 53
12. No. 1 in A-Flat Major, MWV U 143
Lied ohne Worte, Op. 30
13. No. 2 in B-Flat Minor, MWV U 77
14. No. 1 in E-Flat Major, MWV U 103
Lied ohne Worte, Op. 53
15. No. 3 in G Minor, MWV U 144 “Gondola Song”
Lied ohne Worte, Op. 85
16. No. 3 in E-Flat Major, MWV U 111
Lied ohne Worte, Op. 19b
17. No. 6 in G Minor, MWV U 78 “Venetian Gondola Song”
Lied ohne Worte, Op. 38
18. No. 1 in E-Flat Major, MWV U 121
Lied ohne Worte, Op. 62
19. No. 2 in B-Flat Major, MWV U 181
Lied ohne Worte, Op. 85
20. No.1 in F Major, MWV U 150
Lied ohne Worte, Op. 102
21. No. 3 in C Major, MWV U 195 “Piece for Children”
Lied ohne Worte, Op. 85
22. No. 2 in A Minor, MWV U 101
23. No. 5 in A Major, MWV U 191
Lied ohne Worte, Op. 38
24. No. 5 in A Minor, MWV U 137
Lied ohne Worte, Op. 67
25. No. 6 in E Major, MWV U 188
26. Phantasie in B-Flat Major, Op. 15, MWV U 74 on an Irish Song “The Last Rose of Summer”
27. Scherzo from ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ in B Flat Major, Op. 61, MWV M 13
Lieder ohne Worte – Songs without Words – seems to be a description invented by Mendelssohn himself for these short, lyrical and descriptive piano pieces which he composed so prolifically. Indeed, it is arguable that these works define his pianistic output in the same way that the Mazurka defines Chopin’s. Publishing them in sets of six, Mendelssohn composed Lieder ohne Worte throughout his career – they proved a type of composition to which he had a lifetime attraction. For the first volume, rather than approaching them chronologically or as complete sets, Peter Donohoe selected pieces to build a satisfying programme. Here he does the same with all the pieces that remain. In addition, the album features three free-standing significant works. The 17 Variations sérieuses, from 1841, is one of Mendelssohn’s largest solo piano works, and was published in an album to raise funds for a monument to Beethoven. The Phantasie on ‘The Last Rose of Summer’ is a much earlier work, based on the Irish folk melody that – with added words by the Irish poet Thomas Moore – took Europe by storm in the early 1800s. The album concludes with Rachmaninoff’s piano transcription of the Scherzo from A Midsummer Night’s Dream.