PURE MENDELSSOHN

 

Songs Without Words, Op. 53, No. 3

Movement in G minor

Song without words, Op. 67, No.3

Songs Without Words in E major, Op. 53, No. 2

Albumblatt Op. 117

Song without Words, Op. 30 No. 6 (Venezianisches Gondellied No. 2)

Lied in F sharp minor

Song without words in B Minor, Op. 67, No. 5

Song without words in D major, Op. 85, No. 4

Variations sérieuses in D minor Op. 54

Andante con moto, Op. 19b, No. 1

Lieder, Op. 19b, No. 3

Gondellied (Barcarolle) in A

Lied F-Dur

Lied Es-Dur

Song without words in C Minor, Op. 38, No. 2

Lied ohne Worte Op. 102 No. 2

Lieder ohne Worte, Op. 67 No. 4 in C The Bee's Wedding ('Spinning Song')

Rondo capriccioso in E major, Op. 14

 

Sebastian Knauer - piano

 

Following his CD with the sensational first recording of Schubert’s Sonate oubliée, the Hamburg pianist Sebastian Knauer now confronts the Romantic composer Felix Mendelssohn. The second centenary of Mendelssohn’s birth on February 3 next year has prompted Knauer to question the common view of him as a lightweight composer by choosing pieces which reveal that he also had a profound side. The wellplanned sequence results in what is almost a lieder cycle without words, in which the newly compiled blocks of lieder centre around the weighty Variations sérieuses and are framed and commented on by other works. Knauer’s sensitive playing produces fine, sometimes abrupt changes of mood, turning the mixture of popular and rarely heard pieces into an unexpected experience.

 

Berlin Classics 0016372BC