# Mendelssohn Piano Concertos



## robert newman (Oct 4, 2006)

Surprisingly hard to get hold of are two piano concertos by Felix Mendelssohn. I've listened to both of them within the last few days and think they are both wonderful. What a great musical craftsman Mendelssohn was. I know his music is not specially popular today (other than a few works such as the late Violin Concerto) but, honestly, those two piano concertos have so many beauties it's sad that they are not hugely well known. 


Mendelssohn's use of the orchestra is also very economical and pure. Every phrase is as delicate as porcelain. I really rate this composer and already love so much of his music. Highly recommended to those who perhaps have not heard much of him.


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## Manuel (Feb 1, 2007)

I don't think they are really out of the repertoire as I have several recordings of both works by Hough, Levin, Perahia, Katsaris... (Draeseke's piano concerto is really out of stage, as well as Stenhammar's). But I agree with you in the Mendelssohn, they are very good works.


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## Lalla (Feb 7, 2007)

What about his sonatas for the piano and the cello ?! they procure such an appeasment, and do you know this tiny little work : "Albulblatt", Mendelssohn's music is so efficient !

I know some of his string quartets and I think they deal with Beethoven's. His choral works are also greatly interesting, especially if sung by the contralto Stutzmann !


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## Guest (Feb 9, 2007)

robert newman said:


> Mendelssohn's use of the orchestra is also very economical and pure. Every phrase is as delicate as porcelain. I really rate this composer and already love so much of his music. Highly recommended to those who perhaps have not heard much of him.


I agree with you, a very delicate touch and he should be played more to-day, from memory I can not recall hearing one of his works live in concert in the last 7-8 yrs, and do not forget the Violin Concerto. also Midsummer nights dream which has an abundance of fine melodies, the string Qts, and a recent purchase I made was a selection of string sinfonias 4 out of a total of 12 I think? and from a very young Mendelssohn.


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## Sonata (Aug 7, 2010)

I'm really enjoying his piano concertos as well. The piano is just sparkling,and perfectly balanced with the orchestra. I've just started listening to his music in the past two months, and I'm very surprised that he isn't a bigger name today. His music is so relaxing and pleasant. His music rates high in my classical collection.


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

Some may enjoy the Pisarev recording, for a more pensive view of these works.


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## Olias (Nov 18, 2010)

Big fan of the Mendelssohn G Minor Piano Concerto. Here is a MARVELOUS recording of both PCs:

http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?ordertag=Workrecom1827-2212&album_id=2212


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## itywltmt (May 29, 2011)

The recording I own:









Jean-Francois Rivest (currently chief conductor of the student orchestra at the University of Montreal, and one-time resident conductor of the MSO and of Thirteen Strings here in Ottawa) did a number of interesting recordings of late classical/early romantic piano concertos with his then orchestra in Laval (a suberb of Montreal). His recording with Alain Lefevre of Mozart piano concertos (for CBC reciords, I believe) is a study in modest means backing up a soloist.

Ms Chung and Mr Rivest do a great job of the Mendelssohn PC's, though his filler choice (the oft-recorded Hebrides overture) is "just" fine, nothing more.

Honourable mention: Schiff/Dutoit


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

Go for this. Complete concertos. Cheap.


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## CDs (May 2, 2016)

Just enjoyed listening to his piano concertos. Very good!


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

CDs said:


> Just enjoyed listening to his piano concertos. Very good!
> 
> View attachment 84742


Hope to see more in currently listening


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

CDs said:


> Just enjoyed listening to his piano concertos. Very good!
> 
> View attachment 84742


Yes, agreed! .


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## CDs (May 2, 2016)

I had over looked his concertos for a long time, pretty much just sticking to his symphonies. But I saw the Murray Perahia CD brand new yesterday for $5.99. For that price a no brainer.


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## Zlatorog (May 31, 2014)

Has anyone heard this before?


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Zlatorog said:


> Has anyone heard this before?


No, please do tell what we are missing?


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## Abraham Lincoln (Oct 3, 2015)

I adore both concertos 1 and 2.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Abraham Lincoln said:


> I adore both concertos 1 and 2.


Try the Piano Concerto in A minor (for piano and strings), Also very good :tiphat:


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## agoukass (Dec 1, 2008)

I've always liked Hough's recording with CBSO and Lawrence Foster. It opened my eyes to the beauties of Mendelssohn's music and made me appreciate him in a way I hadn't before. 

Of course, the concertos for two pianos that Mendelssohn wrote when he was young are also a lot of fun.


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## 13hm13 (Oct 31, 2016)

Alexandra Dovgan - Felix Mendelssohn, Concerto for Piano No.1 in G Minor, Op.25
With the Svetlanov Symphony Orchestra conducted by Alexander Sladkovsky
Alexandra Dovgan was born in 2007.


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## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

Here's another fine recording of the First:






I like the Second Concerto a little more. It sounds more romantic and expansive:


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## Ras (Oct 6, 2017)

My favorite recording is *Perahia with N. Marriner on Sony*.


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## 13hm13 (Oct 31, 2016)

This one from 1972 (E. Germany) is near the top of my list ....









Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy: Piano Concertos Nos. 1, 2 (V. Gheorghiu, Leipzig Radio Symphony, Kegel) / Concerto for 2 Pianos [Lejskova, Lejsek, Rogner]


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## gprengel (Dec 21, 2015)

If you love Mendelssohn's 2 piano concertos - do you also know that he was working on a 3rd piano concerto in e-minor? I love this completion by L. Todd: 



 - what a gem (Coda of the first movement, ...) !!


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## flamencosketches (Jan 4, 2019)

Reading some of the posts in this thread just now has helped me enjoy these concerti, I think. I'm listening to the G minor concerto now and really enjoying it. That Andante is beautiful. Probably one of the finest piano concerto andantes since Mozart


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

flamencosketches said:


> Reading some of the posts in this thread just now has helped me enjoy these concerti, I think. I'm listening to the G minor concerto now and really enjoying it. That Andante is beautiful. Probably one of the finest piano concerto andantes since Mozart


Right phrase, so many concertos have been written.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

robert newman said:


> Surprisingly hard to get hold of are two piano concertos by Felix Mendelssohn. I've listened to both of them within the last few days and think they are both wonderful. What a great musical craftsman Mendelssohn was. I know his music is not specially popular today (other than a few works such as the late Violin Concerto) but, honestly, those two piano concertos have so many beauties it's sad that they are not hugely well known.
> Mendelssohn's use of the orchestra is also very economical and pure. Every phrase is as delicate as porcelain. I really rate this composer and already love so much of his music. Highly recommended to those who perhaps have not heard much of him.


I'm actually surprised in this thread you didn't say something like:
"Mozart never wrote his clarinet quintet. It was Mendelssohn who arranged the adagio of his 2nd concerto as a classical clarinet quintet and passed it off as a Mozart piece."


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

I like the concertos well enough and agree that Mendelssohn was a fine craftsman and an enthusiastic composer. Many of his pieces have an attractive sparkle to them. But when I look at what other music was been written at the same time I end up a little bemused by his reputation in some quarters. I think he was an important and influential figure in his time but I'm less sure he is well served by being compared favourably to towering geniuses, whether they be Bach, Mozart or Beethoven, or some of his contemporaries. I can't think of a single work of his that comes close to moving me in the way that so many works by those greats does. 

I do feel that a discussion and appreciation of Mendelssohn is poorly served by exaggerating or misplacing what he achieved.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Enthusiast said:


> I like the concertos well enough and agree that Mendelssohn was a fine craftsman and an enthusiastic composer. Many of his pieces have an attractive sparkle to them. But when I look at what other music was been written at the same time I end up a little bemused by his reputation in some quarters. I think he was an important and influential figure in his time but I'm less sure he is well served by being compared favourably to towering geniuses, whether they be Bach, Mozart or Beethoven, or some of his contemporaries. *I can't think of a single work of his that comes close to moving me in the way that so many works by those greats does. *
> 
> I do feel that a discussion and appreciation of Mendelssohn is poorly served by exaggerating or misplacing what he achieved.


Funny I can think of quite a few! The violin concerto, the symphonies 3-5, (parts of) Elijah, Midsummer Night's Dream, Octet, Piano concertos. Sooner have those on a Desert island than certain works by certain 'giants' who deprecated him! They at least radiate a joy in life!


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

^ Oh well, we just differ. But I'm still surprised as the symphonies do not seem to me to come close to what Brahms and Schumann achieved with the form (let alone Beethoven and Mozart), the violin concerto is fine and there were few great models around to compare it with (but surely it is nothing compared to the Brahms?), Midsummer Night's Dream has some attractive music, Elijah makes me nauseous so I can't judge it. The piano concertos seem to me to be attractive but lesser works than the aforementioned and certainly don't come close to the genius of Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms and Schumann. 

OK, comparisons only get you so far and Mendelssohn had his own voice. His music is what it is and we would be the poorer without it. But I can't for the life of me hear the level of inspiration and genius of the greats I have named or, indeed, Wagner (who I assume to be the certain giant that you mention and who, of course, treated Mendelssohn disgracefully). It is our tendency to overrate that disturbs me here.


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## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

Enthusiast said:


> ^ Oh well, we just differ. But I'm still surprised as the symphonies do not seem to me to come close to what Brahms and Schumann achieved with the form (let alone Beethoven and Mozart), the violin concerto is fine and there were few great models around to compare it with (but surely it is nothing compared to the Brahms?), Midsummer Night's Dream has some attractive music, Elijah makes me nauseous so I can't judge it. The piano concertos seem to me to be attractive but lesser works than the aforementioned and certainly don't come close to the genius of Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms and Schumann.
> 
> OK, comparisons only get you so far and Mendelssohn had his own voice. His music is what it is and we would be the poorer without it. But I can't for the life of me hear the level of inspiration and genius of the greats I have named or, indeed, Wagner (who I assume to be the certain giant that you mention and who, of course, treated Mendelssohn disgracefully). It is our tendency to overrate that disturbs me here.


I get the impression that you haven't really listened to enough Mendelssohn to the point that you would know whether someone is exaggerating his work and overrating him as a composer. Some of his lesser mentioned works are wonderful creations:


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

^ I do know those works, thanks. But I am not saying that he didn't write some lovely music. I am just appealing for a bit of discrimination, some recognition of where he stands, a retreat from hyperbole. It sometimes seems we are either totally 100% in awe of a composer or a piece or we don't really like them or it. Perhaps those who place Mendelssohn at the pinnacle do really experience him as an equal to the greatest but that would seem surprising to me. 

Mind you, I am difficult: I'm not a great fan of ranking, either!


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Enthusiast said:


> ^ Oh well, we just differ. But I'm still surprised as the symphonies do not seem to me to come close to what Brahms and Schumann achieved with the form (let alone Beethoven and Mozart), the violin concerto is fine and there were few great models around to compare it with (but surely it is nothing compared to the Brahms?), Midsummer Night's Dream has some attractive music, Elijah makes me nauseous so I can't judge it. The piano concertos seem to me to be attractive but lesser works than the aforementioned and certainly don't come close to the genius of Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms and Schumann.
> 
> OK, comparisons only get you so far and Mendelssohn had his own voice. His music is what it is and we would be the poorer without it. But I can't for the life of me hear the level of inspiration and genius of the greats I have named or, indeed, Wagner (who I assume to be the certain giant that you mention and who, of course, treated Mendelssohn disgracefully). It is our tendency to overrate that disturbs me here.


Yes I would agree the piano concertos don't come up to the level of either Mozart or Beethoven or Brahms but I would say that I find the symphonies 3-5 far more attractive than those of Brahms. And if you asked me who I'd spend my desert island time with I would prefer Mendelssohn to Wagner any day


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

^ Fair enough - that's your taste. But can you see that the Brahms symphonies and Wagner are greater even if they are not to your taste?


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

Enthusiast said:


> I like the concertos well enough and agree that Mendelssohn was a fine craftsman and an enthusiastic composer. Many of his pieces have an attractive sparkle to them. But when I look at what other music was been written at the same time I end up a little bemused by his reputation in some quarters. I think he was an important and influential figure in his time but I'm less sure he is well served by being compared favourably to towering geniuses, whether they be Bach, Mozart or Beethoven, or some of his contemporaries. I can't think of a single work of his that comes close to moving me in the way that so many works by those greats does.
> I do feel that a discussion and appreciation of Mendelssohn is poorly served by exaggerating or misplacing what he achieved.


Mendelssohn to my mind is a greater composer than Schubert who has serious flaws in his way of writing. Some people at TC have said if Schubert lived past 31, he would have equaled Beethoven, but I think if he did live longer, he would have written 2-hour long symphonies with his awkwardly static, student-like tendencies. (Some members keep pointing out Schubert ranks high in rankings based on TC members' preferences, but they are only as significant to me as David C F Wright's opinion on music)


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## Oldhoosierdude (May 29, 2016)

I don't look at rankings. They make little sense to me. I can group favorite recordings of works as most preferred, etc. But can't seem to do the same for composers. The are composers like Beethoven and Bach that I seem to like almost everything they do. Mendelssohn, Brahms, and many others fall into that niche.

But then I can't read music and know little about theory and all of that. I can listen to and enjoy recordings that get horrible reviews and don't understand what all the fuss is about. I can also dismiss famous highly thought of recordings simply because I don't like they way they sound.


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## vincula (Jun 23, 2020)

This one's a stunner and can be found very cheap:









Got the old Decca vinyl as well -Collins/Katin no.1 & no.2- which certainly isn't cheap. The "Double-Decca" might be all you'd ever need. Add Jorge Bolet on the four-hand's works. A treasure.

Regards,

Vincula


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Enthusiast said:


> ^ Fair enough - that's your taste. But can you see that the Brahms symphonies and Wagner are greater even if they are not to your taste?


Of course I don't think the Brahms Symphony are greater if I don't like them as much! Music is to be enjoyed


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

^ I don't get your "of course". For me recognising the "value" of a work is not well correlated with my liking it. Yes, music is to be enjoyed but personal enjoyment can be quite er personal. I usually enjoy music that I think is excellent but "the level of my enjoyment" is not always related to my assessment of the music's excellence.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Enthusiast said:


> ^ I don't get your "of course". For me recognising the "value" of a work is not well correlated with my liking it. Yes, music is to be enjoyed but personal enjoyment can be quite er personal. I usually enjoy music that I think is excellent but "the level of my enjoyment" is not always related to my assessment of the music's excellence.


I have never been that fond of Brahms Symphony's apart from the last one


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## Anankasmo (Jun 23, 2017)

Zlatorog said:


> Has anyone heard this before?


I have the album. It is a good recording. If you already like Mendelssohns first and second concertos than you can't go wrong here imo.

The first movement is very stormy just like the first concerto while still having an emotional restraint like his second concerto. The Andante is also quite nice. Only the Finale is rather weak imo but i read that this is the movement which is mostly reconstructed and arranged of other pieces? It really feels like a Mendelssohn concerto though.


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## flamencosketches (Jan 4, 2019)

Enthusiast said:


> ^ Fair enough - that's your taste. But can you see that the Brahms symphonies and Wagner are greater even if they are not to your taste?


That's a loaded question-what is it about Wagner's operas or Brahms's symphonies that make you think anyone _should_ see them as "greater" than Mendelssohn? Other than your own low opinion of Mendelssohn, which I believe you have yourself noted puts you at odds with most other listeners. This isn't a rhetorical question; I'm curious to know if you really think there are traits in Brahms's symphonies or Wagner's operas that put them in a category above the work of Mendelssohn, and what those traits might be.


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## philoctetes (Jun 15, 2017)

Magic fairy music v magic fire music, who wins...


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## JAS (Mar 6, 2013)

Don't bet against the fairies. They might give you a donkey head.


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## Geoff48 (Aug 15, 2020)

I first came across the first piano concerto pretty early on in my classical music listening. That last movement almost became musical ear worm, I really loved it. The second concerto I didn’t get to know until much later and whilst enjoyable it never made the same impression.
So far as records were concerned I bought Peter Katin with Jean Martinon on Decca Ace of Clubs. I reheard it recently passed as part of a multi disc player Decca set devoted to the piano and its still pretty good. And I also bought the Perahia disc with Marriner, also good. But for some reason I also bought very cheaply a ultra cheap Fidelity disc. The recording was execrable but the performance incredible which is hardly possible surprising when Gilels and Kondrashin were the artists. I recently heard it on Spotify. Sound no better but still the finest version I have heard of the Concerto. Well worth listening to but it does need some tolerance. I don’t think it has been issued on cd but if anyone knows different.....

P. S. I have just checked on Spotify and the conductor is credited as Sanderling. I’m certain from memory that it was Kondrashin but then Fidelity was a Barrington Coupe label. It is attributed elsewhere to Eliasberg. Whoever the conductor was the performance is the best version I have ever heard of this Concerto.


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