There are those who say that Mendelssohn was a minor early German Romantic, that aside from a handful of pieces -- the octet, the violin concerto, the Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream, and a few others -- his music is entirely inconsequential to the history of German music. And then there are those who say he's a major early German Romantic, that many of his works -- the above plus the Italian and Scottish symphonies, the oratorio Elijah, and many, many others -- deserve to be ranked with the most important works of ...
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There are those who say that Mendelssohn was a minor early German Romantic, that aside from a handful of pieces -- the octet, the violin concerto, the Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream, and a few others -- his music is entirely inconsequential to the history of German music. And then there are those who say he's a major early German Romantic, that many of his works -- the above plus the Italian and Scottish symphonies, the oratorio Elijah, and many, many others -- deserve to be ranked with the most important works of early German Romanticism. Those who judge Mendelssohn to be a major German Romantic won't find support for their argument in this disc of his two piano concertos performed by Elisabeth Leonskaja and the Camerata Salzburg directed by Ilan Volkov. Leonskaja is a fine pianist with a bright but warm tone and a more than capable technique, but she treats these minor-keyed works lightly, almost casually. Her opening movements -- Molto allegro con fuoco and Allegro appassionato -- seem less...
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