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Mendelssohn: Symphony #1

Mendelssohn was a child prodigy comparable in talent to Mozart. In fact, some of the works he composed in his teens were thought of as superior to Mozart's when he was at a similar age.

We also have Mendelssohn to thank for reviving the world's interest in the works of Bach. In 1829, Mendelssohn conducted a performance of Bach's St. Matthew's Passion, at a time when Bach's music had become nearly completely forgotten. The performance was so powerful and so well-regarded that it kicked off what we now think of as the "19th century Bach revival."
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Herbert Von Karajan and the Berliner Philharmoniker
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
Five Symphonies
Deutsche Grammophon, 1973
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The disc I have is a three-CD collection of all five of Mendelssohn's symphonies, and with any luck, I'll have a chance to blog about all of them. I've posted a link to this CD below, along with another, similar Deutsche Grammophon collection of Mendelssohn's symphonies with several additional works.

A few quick notes:

1) The First Symphony clocks in at just 30 minutes; yet another classical work that you can get to know without making a major time commitment.

2) In the 2nd movement you can really see why people think Mendelssohn has a profound gift for composing music for strings.

3) Have you ever heard a military waltz? Is there such a thing? That's what the 3rd movement sounds like to me. Also, listen for the two distinct parts of the 3rd movement: The martial-waltz at the beginning of the movement fades (at about the 2:25 mark) into beautiful woodwind melodies layered over rising arpeggios by the strings. Then the movement returns to the original theme at 5:40 or so.

4) In the 4th movement, listen in at around the 3:20 mark for a fugue-like section that is reminiscent of Bach. And finally, what do you think of the Beethoven-style overwrought ending?

One final note: One work by Mendelssohn that everybody should consider owning is his Octet in E-flat Major for Strings. It is on the second CD collection below. I don't own it (yet), but I would recommend anyone wanting to own what is widely considered one of Mendelssohn's greatest works. Amazingly, he composed it at age 16!



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