Composer: Felix Mendelssohn
Performer: Howard Shelley
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Hyperion
Catalogue: CDA68059
Release: 2014
Size: 1.18 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
01. Rondo capriccioso in E major, Op. 14
02. Fantasia on “The Last Rose of Summer”, Op. 15
3 Fantasies (or Caprices) Op. 16
03. No 1 in A minor. Andante con moto – Allegro vivace
04. No 2 in E minor. Scherzo: Presto
05. No 3 in E major. Andante
Fantasia in F sharp minor, Op. 28
06. I. Con moto agitato – Andante
07. II. Allegro con moto
08. III. Presto
09. Lied Es-Dur
10. Lied in A major, 1830
Songs without Words, Book 2, Op. 30
11. No 1 in E flat major. Andante espressivo
12. No 2 in B flat minor. Allegro di molto
13. No 3 in E major. Adagio non troppo
14. No 4 in B minor. Agitato e con fuoco
15. No 5 in D major. Andante grazioso
16. No 6 in F sharp minor ‘Venetianisches Gondellied’. Allegretto tranquillo
Songs without Words, Book 3, Op. 38
17. No 1 in E flat major. Con moto
18. No 2 in C minor. Allegro non troppo
19. No 3 in E major. Presto e molto vivace
20. No 4 in A major. Andante
21. No 5 in A minor. Agitato
22. No 6 in A flat major ‘Duetto’. Andante
Howard Shelley is acclaimed as the living master of early Romantic piano music. So much of this music was ignored throughout the twentieth century that there is still a sense of discovery at each new recording. Shelley here presents the second instalment of a six-volume set of Mendelssohn’s complete solo piano music—perhaps the least well-known part of the composer’s repertoire. The first volume was praised for Shelley’s ‘immaculate, lightly-pedalled brilliance, unfailing stylistic assurance, warmth and flexibility’ (Gramophone).
This second volume includes the Rondo capriccioso, a favourite virtuoso concert piece of the nineteenth century; the three-movement Fantasia in F sharp minor, which was originally described as a ‘Sonate écossaise’, with its characteristic Scottish folk-song elements in the first movement, and two books of the Songs without Words.