Howard Shelley

Mendelssohn: The Complete Solo Piano Music, Vol. 4

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AllMusic Review by James Manheim

Mendelssohn's piano music as a whole has been underexposed over the years, making this complete six-volume cycle by the indefatigable Howard Shelley especially welcome. Each volume contains a mixture of familiar and unfamiliar pieces, and for the familiar here you have to wait until the end, when Shelley gives a gentle, thoroughly idiomatic performance of the Sechs Lieder ohne Worte, Book V, Op. 62 (Six Songs Without Words). The rest of the music may well be unknown to many listeners, at least outside Mendelssohn's second homeland of Britain. The Six Preludes and Fugues, Op. 35, were assembled from earlier fugues with added preludes in 1837. Mendelssohn did not initially conceive of them as Bachian prelude-and-fugue pairs, but moved in that direction over the course of the preludes' composition. They represent stages in the process by which Mendelssohn incorporated Bachian elements into his own style, and as such they're quite interesting: some of the preludes are essentially Songs Without Words; some are little etudes (the original conception), and some are closer to the Bachian model. Shelley takes a very quiet approach here, as if Mendelssohn were working out the music in his own quarters; this is effective but does not work so well with the rather vague sonic profile of the All Saints' Church, East Finchley, London. You also get an unpublished Andante cantabile e presto agitato that's related to the better-known Rondo capriccioso, Op. 14, and a delightful little piece called Lied written for Mendelssohn's honeymoon and unpublished until 1927. Recommended for Mendelssohn fans, as indeed is Shelley's entire series.

Track Listing

Sample		Title/Composer	Performer	Time
Six Preludes and Fugues Op. 35
	1	Prelude No. 1 in E minor: Allegro con fuoco Felix Mendelssohn	Howard Shelley	2:07
	2	Fugue No.1 in E minor: Andante espressivo Felix Mendelssohn	Howard Shelley	5:54
	3	Prelude No. 2 in D major: Allegretto Felix Mendelssohn	Howard Shelley	2:43
	4	Fugue No. 2 in D major: Tranquillo e sempre legato Felix Mendelssohn	Howard Shelley	3:05
	5	Prelude No.3 in B minor: Prestissimo staccato Felix Mendelssohn	Howard Shelley	1:55
	6	Fugue No. 3 in B minor: Allegro con brio Felix Mendelssohn	Howard Shelley	3:30
	7	Prelude No. 4 in A flat major: Con moto Felix Mendelssohn	Howard Shelley	3:52
	8	Fugue No. 4 in A flat major: Con moto ma sostenuto Felix Mendelssohn	Howard Shelley	5:03
	9	Prelude No. 5 in F minor: Andante lento Felix Mendelssohn	Howard Shelley	3:00
	10	Fugue No. 5 in F minor: Allegro con fuoco Felix Mendelssohn	Howard Shelley	3:48
	11	Prelude No. 6 in B flat major: Maestoso moderto Felix Mendelssohn	Howard Shelley	2:50
	12	Fugue No. 6 in B flat major: Allegro con brio Felix Mendelssohn	Howard Shelley	3:36
Andante cantabile e Presto agitato WoO6
	13	Andante cantabile Felix Mendelssohn	Howard Shelley	2:36
	14	Presto agitato Felix Mendelssohn	Howard Shelley	5:55
	15	Lied in A major Felix Mendelssohn	Howard Shelley	2:45
Sechs Lieder ohne Worte Book V Op. 62
	16	No. 1 in G major: Andante espressivo Felix Mendelssohn	Howard Shelley	2:42
	17	No. 2 in B flat major: Allegro con fuoco Felix Mendelssohn	Howard Shelley	1:55
	18	No. 3 in E minor: Andante maestoso Felix Mendelssohn	Howard Shelley	2:31
	19	No. 4 in G major: Allegro con anima Felix Mendelssohn	Howard Shelley	1:33
	20	No. 5 in A minor 'Venetianisches Gondellied': Andante con moto Felix Mendelssohn	Howard Shelley	2:57
	21	No. 6 in A major 'Frühlingslied': Allegretto grazioso Felix Mendelssohn	Howard Shelley	2:49

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Howard Shelley

Mendelssohn: The Complete Solo Piano Music, Vol. 4

AllMusic Review by James Manheim

Track Listing