# Mendelssohn-any fans here?



## Clouds Weep Snowflakes (Feb 24, 2019)

While there is absolutely no period I don't like and won't listen to, the Romantic period is in general my favorite (Tchaikovsky, I'm looking at you); it doesn't take a genius to guess I like quite a few of Mendelssohn's compositions; do you like him? What are your favorite pieces?
I own on CDs his "songs witout word" (I lost the booklet, but the CDs are working fine and I can always google if I want to know more), some violin concertos, symphonies 3 and 4, octur no. 20, "Israel in Egypt", and my favorite of all, "A midsummer's night dream".


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Mendelssohn is one of my favorite composers! Love his symphonies, Elijah oratorio, Midsummer Night Dream and other pieces. I bought this set:


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## Clouds Weep Snowflakes (Feb 24, 2019)

Fritz Kobus said:


> Mendelssohn is one of my favorite composers! Love his symphonies, Elijah oratorio, Midsummer Night Dream and other pieces. I bought this set:


40 CDs in one package!? Wow!


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Clouds Weep Snowflakes said:


> 40 CDs in one package!? Wow!


I found a used one for $55 with one missing disk, which I was able to buy separately for $4.


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## CypressWillow (Apr 2, 2013)

I adore Mendelssohn! If you're not yet familiar with his Octet Op. 20, you're in for a treat.






A gorgeous performance. Enjoy!


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)




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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

There is another 40 CD set (Amazon link for track list). Perhaps just a repackaging of the one I bought?









or


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

All the Mendelssohn most people may ever need can be had in good performances and recordings for $2.69.


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## MatthewWeflen (Jan 24, 2019)

I own the Mendelssohn 99 set above, but my personal favorite is this box of symphonies:









Another favorite is this set of quartets:


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

The piano concertos are quite good imo, and if you like organ, do get his organ sonatas.


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## Clouds Weep Snowflakes (Feb 24, 2019)

CypressWillow said:


> I adore Mendelssohn! If you're not yet familiar with his Octet Op. 20, you're in for a treat.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Violin. viola and cello for a piece like this? Wonderful!


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## Krummhorn (Feb 18, 2007)

Art Rock said:


> The piano concertos are quite good imo, and if you like organ, do get his organ sonatas.


I'll echo that about the Mendelssohn Organ Sonatas. My favorite, and one that I have performed, is Sonata I.


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## Gallus (Feb 8, 2018)

Mendelssohn is one of my absolute favourite composers. It's astonishing to me how he composed a masterpiece in virtually every field: the Scottish symphony, The Hebrides Overture, the violin concerto, the octet, the F minor string quartet, the D minor piano trio...these are some of the greatest works ever written in their respective genres. And yet for someone with such immense ability he hit those heights so rarely. It's a tragedy.


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## Guest (Jun 20, 2019)

I feel the same way as the poster above about Mendelssohn. Most of his best works have already been mentioned, so I won't repeat them. 

Along with Schumann, Chopin, Liszt, he was one of the key figures in the early romantic era. If only he, like several other great composers from that general era, hadn't died so young.

The Mendelssohn works I especially like are his Violin Concerto, the last 3 symphonies, and many of his chamber works such as Op 80 String Quartet No 6 in F minor. I think the "Hebrides" overture is one of the best of its kind. There are many others.


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## MatthewWeflen (Jan 24, 2019)

I love Mendelssohn's first symphony. It never seems to get mentioned and is always overlooked in favor of the third. But the first movement? The scherzo? The finale? It's superb.


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## Vasks (Dec 9, 2013)

Another gem are his Piano Trios with #2 being one of my favorite Mendelssohn chamber music pieces right after the Octet.


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## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

I'm a fan of his early double concerto for piano and violin, specifically the one from Suzanne Lautenbacher and Marylene Dosse at the keyboard. There was another recording, now deleted, linking it to the Viotti double concerto for same forces that's also good.

Can't say I'm an admirer of any of the sets mentioned here mostly because they lack my favorite recordings... though Nicol Matt's version of Mendelssohn's pslams, contained in one of the boxes mentioned, is excellent. Those religious works are similar to Bach cantatas.

For the rest I can't find any favorites. Those would include:

Christoph von Dohnanyi's Lobgesang symphony.
Toscanini's "Reformation" symphony. I also like 5th symphonies from Bernard Haitink and Franz Bruggen.
Bryn Terfel's Elijah.
Murray Peraiah's piano music including the wonderful Sonata Op. 1.
Vienna Octet's performance of the Sextet in D mated to Borodin's Quintet in C minor.
Suk Trio's Piano Trio No. 1 mated to the Brahm's Trio No. 3.

If I were forced to buy a box it would be the RCA collection from Claus Peter Flor, the best Mendelssohnian hardly anyone knows. He mas many, many fine Mendelssohn recordings.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

MatthewWeflen said:


> I love Mendelssohn's first symphony. It never seems to get mentioned and is always overlooked in favor of the third. But the first movement? The scherzo? The finale? It's superb.


And indeed it was his first (not counting the string symphonies). *They are numbered in order of publication and #1 happens to be both the first composed and published.*


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Felix’s symphonies are numbered very out of order compared with the years they were completed. Here are his symphonies in time order.

1, 1824
5, 1830
4, 1833
2, 1840
3, 1842


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

KenOC said:


> Felix's symphonies are numbered very out of order compared with the years they were completed. Here are his symphonies in time order.
> 
> 1, 1824
> 5, 1830
> ...


And then we have to consider that the second symphony is not really a symphony, well the first part is, the second part isn't.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Funny how the 5th symphony is a commemoration of the Reformation and the signing of the Lutheran Augsburg Confession, yet the Lutherans just had their 500th anniversary of the Reformation last October and a perfect opportunity to play Mendelssohn's 5th, but the several Lutheran pastors I mentioned Mendelssohn's 5th to knew nothing of it even though the fourth movement has the melody of the most famous Reformation Hymn, I think even written by Luther himself, "A Mighty Fortress." Worse, after mentioning it, they did not even seem excited to know. These Lutherans certainly are an odd lot.


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## Guest (Jun 20, 2019)

KenOC said:


> Felix's symphonies are numbered very out of order compared with the years they were completed. Here are his symphonies in time order.
> 
> 1, 1824
> 5, 1830
> ...


I'm not sure but I think this had something to do with the dates of publication, rather than dates of composition. I understand that No 5 "Reformation" wasn't published until well after Mendelssohn's death. He was known to fiddle around a lot with some of his works, seldom being fully satisfied with them until he fiddled around yet more. He was known to have travelled around Europe quite a lot, and was busy with conducting, so these interruptions possibly this might explain the peculiar order of the others, but i don't know for sure.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Partita said:


> I'm not sure but I think this had something to do with the dates of publication, rather than dates of composition...


Those are dates of the completion of composition, as given by Wiki. The dates of publication are, in some cases, quite different.


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## Guest (Jun 20, 2019)

KenOC said:


> Those are dates of the completion of composition, as given by Wiki. The dates of publication are, in some cases, quite different.


I know that and said so. You evidently did not read correctly what I wrote.

I was trying to find an explanation for the strange-looking order of the main Symphonies. I said that i thought it possible that the numbering (1,2 ...5) may have followed the dates of publication, rather than the dates of composition.

I have now checked this out further and it seems (according to Wiki) that the following are the dates of publication or first performance for the main symphonies (I'm not referring to the juvenile "Spring" symphonies):

Date of Publication or First Performance

Op 11 No 1 - 1831 (composed 1824)
Op 52 No 2 - 1840 (composed 1840)
Op 56 No 3 - 1842 (date of first performance) (composed 1829-42)
Op 90 No 4 - 1851 (composed 1833)
Op 107 No 5 - 1868 (composed 1830)

....

Mendelssohn only numbedred his works up to Op 72. The later numbers were ascribed posthumously by the publishers.

So it would seem that my guess was correct, i.e the numbering follows the dates of publication or first performance.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Partita said:


> I know that and said so. You evidently dead not read correctly what I wrote.


Yes, I misunderstood your meaning. Sorry!


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## Guest (Jun 20, 2019)

KenOC said:


> Yes, I misunderstood your meaning. Sorry!


That's fine. I trust the ordering makes some sense now.

I was a bit surprised myself, especially regards Symphony No 5 that it took so long to publish it. I have no idea why.

I knew from the distant past that I had read something about this very delayed publication of S5, but I couldn't recall where. It's among my favourite works by Mendelssohn.


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## mmsbls (Mar 6, 2011)

I adore Mendelssohn from his symphonies to concertos to chamber and vocal music. My favorite works are probably the Violin Concerto, Symphony 4, Octet, and Piano Concerto No. 1. I certainly have never heard anything by him that I do not like. 

While they are not his best works, I find the string symphonies that he wrote when quite young (12-14) to be very enjoyable as well. 

When I find a work I enjoy, I usually like any version of that work. There have been extremely few instances of hearing something I like performed in a manner that makes me dislike it. One such example is Mendelssohn's double concerto for violin and piano. I got a recording of the concerto by Gidon Kremer and Martha Argerich. I was very surprised that I simply did not like their version. Normally I like both musicians, but this version was a startling exception.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

I don't like these numbers as it is becoming extremely confusing. Can we just call them by name? I think all but #1 have names. Or else I may just put them all in a bowl and scramble the order and renumber them randomly.


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## Guest (Jun 21, 2019)

mmsbls said:


> I adore Mendelssohn from his symphonies to concertos to chamber and vocal music. My favorite works are probably the Violin Concerto, Symphony 4, Octet, and Piano Concerto No. 1. I certainly have never heard anything by him that I do not like.
> 
> While they are not his best works, I find the string symphonies that he wrote when quite young (12-14) to be very enjoyable as well.
> 
> When I find a work I enjoy, I usually like any version of that work. There have been extremely few instances of hearing something I like performed in a manner that makes me dislike it. One such example is Mendelssohn's *double concerto for violin and piano*. I got a recording of the concerto by Gidon Kremer and Martha Argerich. I was very surprised that I simply did not like their version. Normally I like both musicians, but this version was a startling exception.


He was 14 when he wrote the double concerto. It was witten for fortepiano. The following version is the one I bought. The overall sound and playing is very good, as would be expected from this line-up of performers. Kristian Bezuidenhout is a first class fortepiano player.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

They are rarely mentioned, but I like his Lieder a lot as well. Hyperion has an excellent set of 5 CD's for solo songs and duets, with piano.


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## Guest (Jun 21, 2019)

Fritz Kobus said:


> I don't like these numbers as it is becoming extremely confusing. Can we just call them by name? I think all but #1 have names. Or else I may just put them all in a bowl and scramble the order and renumber them randomly.


It's straightforward really. The numbering 1-5 follows the dates of publication. That's all there is to it.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

I'm afraid I have never gotten much out of his music. Even the handful of works I like are not that important to me. I believe he was an important figure but must confess to not really getting the appeal of his music.


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## Razumovskymas (Sep 20, 2016)

I like his string quartets. One of the few composers who seems to honor Beethoven's "language" somehow in a right way in that field, not overly romantic. 

I should (and will!) explore more of his music!


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## Oldhoosierdude (May 29, 2016)

MatthewWeflen said:


> I love Mendelssohn's first symphony. It never seems to get mentioned and is always overlooked in favor of the third. But the first movement? The scherzo? The finale? It's superb.


I quite agree!.....


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