Mendelssohn - Violin Concerto [Bell/ Norrington-Camerata Salzburg]

A really good coupling, the Mendelssohn concerto is a perennial evergreen, one of the easiest to like then love, i count 20 different discs in my collection containing this work, that's a lot of music, much more than i realized, but the work in essence justifies it, also i have the other disc that Bell made of this work early in his recording career of the Mendelssohn with Marriner, the Bell / Norrington disc appeared in my Blog four years ago [25th June 2011].

Joshua Bell is American, he's now 47, he recorded this disc back in 2000, the front booklet and back inlay are excellent [photography by Timothy White], showing Bell with his violin, arms folded, a blue top and dark blue background, well lit, and the lettering is skillfully placed, i really like the finished product here.

It was the opening movement that was such a joy to listen to, at 13 minutes it's almost roughly half of the Concerto, the very opening is a marvel of invention, Mendelssohn here goes straight into the melody, and the violin features right away, making a violin / orchestra statement which is strong and powerful [0:00-1:01], it's easy to hear how the music flows just effortlessly, but almost every note was agonised over by Mendelssohn, he caused him no end of grief, but it's impossible to hear that in such a performance as this, the Concerto is in E Minor, a favourite for Violin Concertos, surprisingly Bell uses his own cadenza instead of the one by Mendelssohn [7:10-8:48], and at first sounds different / wrong, but in essence the whole point of a cadenza is to showcase the skill of the Violinist, almost an impromptu invention, and i guess it's good to hear something different for a change, Bell is a great fiddler, and the violin playing is brilliant, some of the difficult passages toward the end are played with aplomb, there's a real excitement here.

Here's Joshua Bell playing the Mendelssohn Concerto on YouTube.

Various Composers - Scottish Overtures [Gibson-Scottish National Orchestra]

Here's a clever little recital of lesser known works, all around a Scottish theme, it's a nice disc to own as it hardly duplicates much in your collection, shame that it only has fifty minutes of music though, a couple more Overtures wouldn't have gone amiss, i enjoyed all of the music on this disc, appeared in my Blog over four years ago [8th January 2011].

This disc was recorded in 1981, an early Chandos release, and the front cover photograph [by Derek Forss] shows two red highland cows on the Isle Of Skye, the lettering is skillfully placed, and the different fonts and symmetry of it all is really pleasing to the eye.

Well on this listen i enjoyed so many things, it was good to hear the Berlioz / Waverley Overture again, not something i'm greatly familiar with, and i want to get to know it better, also Arnold's Tam O'Shanter is a riot of cacophony at times, sounds like he had fun composing that one, but the best piece was Mendelssohn / Hebrides Overture, and probably the best known / popular on this disc also, i haven't heard it for a while, i got to know it early in my love for Classical music, and it's such a wonderful piece, it's so good to hear it again today,

Here's my feeling on the Mendelssohn / Hebrides Overture, it has a rise and fall motif on lower strings at the beginning, complemented by the same motif on the violins, inspired by a visit to Fingal's cave, it's a cave which is flooded on the floor, but is a huge cathedral like structure, and has excellent acoustics, you can feel the vastness of the ocean on the Hebridean coast, and it's solitariness also, the Overture is full of romantic sweeps, of course the music has angry episodes too [3:03-3:41], where the brass come to the fore, there's a march like central episode [5:46+], which builds up into some excellent string work [6:18+], but the opening motif is never far away, towards the end the music becomes nostalgic, the clarinet has a lovely solo [7:41-8:26], before the frenzy of the whole thing takes off [8:42+], furiously driven strings, and resplendent brass, and right at the end the open motif is played gently by woodwind / flutes [9:59-10:10].

Here's Gardiner conducting this Overture on YouTube.

Mendelssohn - Violin Concerto [Perlman/ Haitink-Concertgebouw Orchestra] 

I enjoyed this so much today, one of the main staples of the Classical repertoire, very popular, maybe to some overplayed and overexposed to, in some ways you can get too familiar with a piece / work, but even though i've played this work hundreds of times, i'm still amazed by the power and 'newness' of this Concerto, it's so evergreen, i don't believe the day will ever come when i will say 'yeah, i know that work now, i've sussed it out, and i can now leave it behind and move on', that's like leaving behind your favourite food because you've had it so much!, i walked to Church today, it was cold, but this certainly warmed my heart while i was walking, this disc makes its debut in my Blog.

Itzhak Perlman is Israeli, though now he's emigrated to the United States, he's now 67, he made this recording in 1984, the front cover photograph is by Christian Steiner, a nice portrait.

This was fantastic, especially the first two movements, as i was listening to the first movement, i thought 'things can't get better than this', but amazingly i found the slow movement just that, it was so superb, 

Here's Itzhak Perlman playing the slow movement on YouTube.

Mendelssohn - Violin Concerto [Ughi/Pretre-London Symphony Orchestra] 

I always thought this work was very popular with me, however this is the first time it appears in my Blog this year, this is such a common coupling, and each Concerto works so well with the other, the genius of Mendelssohn shines through, in one of his greatest works, i love the way it's both innocent / simple, and yet there's something more darker / complex about it, probably because it's in E Minor, at first it may seem a sunny work, but really there's an underlining sadness throughout, it's irresistible.

Uto Ughi is Italian, a strange name i guess, he's now 68, and he made this recording in 1982, the recording is only in two long tracks for each work, hmmm strange, it's good for things to be cued individually, the front and back booklet / insert are lovely [photos by Clive Barda], nice and colourful with interesting backgrounds, the RCA logos are especially colourful.

It was the first movement that was so full of flair and excitement, Ughi / Pretre take it slightly fast [nearly 13 minutes], and it gives off a serious momentum of virtuosity, straight from the go Mendelssohn brings in the Violin, there's no Mozart type orchestral introduction, the main theme is one of sadness, a beautiful tune that the Violin plays through with the orchestra [0:00-0:59], and then the orchestra copy without the violin [0:59-1:29], after only three minutes a more tranquil section appears, not unlike a slow movement [2:53-4:09], and Ughi gets in some very tender playing, there's still this air of sadness, yet it's sweeter [in G Major], .

Here's Julia Fischer playing the first movement of the Mendelssohn on YouTube.

Mendelssohn - Symphony 4 [Belohlavek-Prague Philharmonia] 

Now this disc is absolutely superb, excellently recorded, as well as the performances are stunning, and the whole thing hit the spot, two very different Symphonies, i used to like the Third the best, but i'm being won over by the Fourth, again it was at the park i listened to this, Mendelssohn never sounded so good, there's a tendency to believe that if you listen to a Classical work enough times, that you'll get 'used' to it, it will get ordinary [familiarity breeds contempt right?], but this shocked me into the realization that old well worn works can still surprise me, i played this same disc last year [24th March 2011].

Jiri Belohlavek is a Czech Conductor, he's now 66, and he recorded this disc in 2006, the wonderful front cover photograph [by Ondrej Zacek] i guess is of a Scottish Loch, the lovely symmetry is there, and the almost monotone colours [grey & brown] give it a sparseness, the lettering is well placed, and the bright red logo gives it that splash of colour, i really like the whole thing.

The whole thing was fantastic, but if i had to pick a movement that ultra touched me, it would be the third, 

Here's Petre Sbarcea conducting the third movement on YouTube.

Mendelssohn - Violin Concerto [Salerno Sonnenberg/Schwarz-New York Chamber Symphony]

This is one of the very first discs i bought on Ebay when i joined in mid 2005, seems like a lifetime ago, and yet i've only been on Ebay just over 6 years, i saw his in a second hand shop a couple of years before, decided against it, then regretted it, but it's good that i found another copy, it's a very good idea to give some shorter concertante works rather than another Violin Concerto, i think the shorter pieces work.

Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg is Italian, though now she lives in the USA, she turned 50 at the start of the year, early on she made some nice discs, this one and her Vivaldi Four Seasons, but later she seems to have turned her hand to crossover, she recorded this disc in 1988, one of the things that attracted me to this disc was the front cover [photo by Christian Steiner], lovely strong colours, shame about the cut out background, but still nicely laid out.

Mendelssohn - Violin Concerto [Bell/ Norrington-Camerata Salzburg] 

Mendelssohn's perennial Violin Concerto again!, just counting my Blog entries for this work, it's now appeared 5 times in the past [each time by a different performer], and now here's Joshua Bell playing this work, this is another disc that i bought fairly recently, and now i've been able to dip my toes in this disc. 

Joshua Bell is now 43 and a household name as far as the violin goes, he was born in America, and he recorded this disc in 2000, he has already recorded the Mendelssohn work with Marriner [his debut disc in 1988], the front cover shot [photo by Timothy White], is really nice, very much a blue theme, nice pin sharp shot, with clever shadows.

One of the things that took me by surprise with this work, is that Bell uses his own cadenza in the first movement, Mendelssohn actually wrote out his own cadenza in full, and incorporated it into the work, so it's very strange / different for the music to dip into unknown territory when Bell does his solo cadenza, it's the first movement that i really loved, exciting and dazzling bravura, right from the very start, the violin comes in and announces itself as a virtuoso [0:05-1:01], nice clear and superb recording, Bell takes us into treble heaven, with a series of high tessitura whoops [4:55-5:20], the cadenza comes roughly halfway through the movement [7:10-8:48], and i must admit that i can't get used to Bell's own ideas here, they just sound out of place, even though his cadenza is certainly full of interesting ideas, towards the very end there's a speeding up into a nice bravura finale, and there's some exciting passage work [12:42-12:48], but it's that cadenza that just seems to break the flow of this usually very fluid movement.

Here's Shlomo Mintz playing the first movement on YouTube.