Just to give you an idea of some of the “sounds” of Mendelssohn's music – here are a few videos of some of the pieces I'd mentioned in earlier posts: from his Italian Symphony and his Violin Concerto, a movement from his Octet (well, most of it) and a bit of a symphony by a friend of his, his complete antithesis, Hector Berlioz.Mendelssohn's Italian Symphony was inspired by his trip to Italy when he was 22. It's one of the sunniest pieces of music I've ever heard. Here's the opening played by an orchestra that Mendelssohn had conducted in the 1840s – this time, it's Kurt Masur conducting.
- - - - - - -
- - - - - -
In the post about prodigies, I'd mentioned former child prodigy Sarah Chang. There's a photo of her there, taken when she was 6. She made her debut with the New York Philharmonic when she was 8. In this video, she is still a teen-ager, playing the final movement of the Violin Concerto by Felix Mendelssohn. It's a live TV broadcast with Kurt Masur conducting, again: this time it's the New York Philharmonic. The performance has a few minor rough spots - it's live, after all; you could go back and try it again in the recording studio - but I think the person who made her wear that green dress should be shot...- - - - - - -
- - - - - -
This photo (see above, right) is a more recent picture of Sarah Chang.
Prodigies have to start somewhere. Here's a 10-year-old violinist (I don't know her name) who plays the same finale of Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto with a pianist. It may not be the greatest performance in the world or the most ideal conditions but the important thing here is her enthusiasm – not to mention, at 10 years old, the technical talent she already has. (Isn't her smile great?)
- - - - - - -
- - - - - -
Speaking of prodigies, here's the opening movement of the Octet that Mendelssohn composed when he was 16. It's practically a violin concerto in itself. He wrote it for his violin teacher's birthday so I guess he wanted to give him something hard so he'd have to work (the student's best revenge). Just think of the fun it must have been, writing something for a friend's birthday present – not to mention watching him sweat during the performance! You can hear that happiness in the music.
You'll hear it with Odin Rathnam and the West Branch Music Festival Players on September 16th, but here's a performance with members of the São Paolo Symphony in Brazil.
- - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
In the post about “Mendelssohn, the Person,” I mentioned how different his music is from the music his friend Hector Berlioz wrote.
Berlioz was a French composer and among the wildest of the wild new generation in the 1830s. They met in Rome when Berlioz was finishing his Symphonie fantastique and Mendelssohn had begun his Italian Symphony (the first video on this post). Mendelssohn said he felt like he needed to wash his hands after handling the score, the music was so “dirty.” A man careful about his appearance, Mendelssohn didn't care for Berlioz' unruly hair and his unruly manner – sitting in a grungy bar smoking awful cigars – but he also had trouble understanding Berlioz' unruly music. As Berlioz himself wrote about Mendelssohn: “he has an enormous, extraordinary, superb and prodigious talent. I cannot be accused of flattering him in telling you this because he told me frankly that he did not understand my music at all.”Here is the very end, the last minute of Berlioz' very unruly Symphonie fantastique which describes the hero's persecution in Hell, ending with a rousing Witches' Dance. Mendelssohn could never have written this music!
- - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
It's played by a Brazilian orchestra from Minas Gerais, one of the larger Brazilian states. It's recorded by cell-phone, I assume, from someone sitting in the front row. The musicians are certainly throwing themselves into it! It's the only way you can really play “over-the-top” Romantic Music like this!
- Dr. Dick
