Felix Mendelssohn wrote quite a few songs, but recordings of them in a period style have been sparse or nonexistent. This release from the respected Profil label in Germany works to remedy that lack, with a charming chamber-sized performance touching on songs from various periods of Mendelssohn's career, although the best-known ones of all, like Neue Liebe, Op. 19/4, are omitted. The Op. 8 songs, written when Mendelssohn was 18, are lighthearted and immensely appealing. Mendelssohn apparently had misgivings about at least ...
Read More
Felix Mendelssohn wrote quite a few songs, but recordings of them in a period style have been sparse or nonexistent. This release from the respected Profil label in Germany works to remedy that lack, with a charming chamber-sized performance touching on songs from various periods of Mendelssohn's career, although the best-known ones of all, like Neue Liebe, Op. 19/4, are omitted. The Op. 8 songs, written when Mendelssohn was 18, are lighthearted and immensely appealing. Mendelssohn apparently had misgivings about at least Jetzt kommt der Frühling, Op. 8/6 (Now Spring Is Coming, track 7), later in his career, but the popularity of the song, which is in a light Swabian dialect, seems justified from the modern hearer's point of view. The two Goethe songs could pass for little-known Schubert and appear untouched by the simple, folk-like settings that Goethe himself favored. The Hexenlied, Op, 8/8 (track 2) is a worthy counterpart to Schubert's Erlkönig, which Mendelssohn may not have known. Especially...
Read Less