Felix Mendelssohn – The Complete Solo Piano Music, Vol. 1 – Howard Shelley (2013) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Felix Mendelssohn – The Complete Solo Piano Music, Vol. 1 – Howard Shelley (2013)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96kHz | Time – 01:14:06 minutes | 1,14 GB | Genre: Classical
Official Digital Download – Source: hyperion-records | @ Hyperion Records
Recorded: March 2012at St Michael’s Church, Highgate, London, United Kingdom

Howard Shelley is acclaimed as the living master of early Romantic piano music. So much of this music was ignored throughout the twentieth century that there is still a sense of discovery at each new recording. Shelley here presents the first instalment of a six-volume set of Mendelssohn’s complete solo piano music—perhaps the least well-known part of the composer’s repertoire.
Mendelssohn composed or began nearly two hundred works for piano. Nevertheless, he saw only about seventy through the press, released in seventeen opera from the Capriccio Op 5 (1825) to the sixth volume of the Lieder ohne Worte Op 67 (1845). Some twenty-five additional pieces appeared posthumously in eleven additional opera. The remainder, whether fully drafted or fragmentary, were left to his musical estate or have disappeared.
Volume 1 includes Opp 5, 6, and 7, the first three piano compositions Mendelssohn published between 1825 and 1827, as well as Op 19b, the first volume of his Lieder ohne Worte, released in 1832.

‘Immaculate, lightly-pedalled brilliance, unfaltering stylistic assurance, warmth and flexibility … Hyperion’s sound and presentation complement Shelley’s admirable performances’ –Gramophone

‘When Mendelssohn asks for Presto, Shelley takes him at his word, with a fleetness and control that command admiration, not to mention envy. He also brings a wide variety of dynamics and tone, well captured by the recording. I particularly liked the sparsity of his pedalling, leaving the composer’s lines to do their work’ –BBC Music Magazine

‘Fans of fireworks won’t be disappointed, in either the opening Capriccio in F sharp minor or the astonishing bravura finale of the Sonata in E major, both the work of the teenage Mendelssohn. Shelley gives us a further glimpse of the restlessly romantic mind of this wunderkind in the cycle of seven Characterstücke before wrapping us in the warm, gemütlich embrace of Book 1 of the Songs without Words. With playing of this quality this is going to be a series to treasure’ –The Observer

‘The Seven Character Pieces, Op 7 … truly reveal the vast range of Mendelssohn’s pianistic and compositional language … the programme notes are formidable and provide a veritable fund of information. Hyperion’s sound quality is first-rate, as ever … Shelley’s playing is faultless, and the clarity he brings to the voice-leading and the vast textures of the ‘Fugue’ has me listening repeatedly to this track’ –International Record Review

Tracklist:
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
1 Capriccio in F sharp minor Op 5[6’05]
Piano Sonata in E major Op 6
2 Allegretto con espressione[5’42]
3 Tempo di menuetto[4’39]
4 Adagio e senza tempo[6’39]
5 Molto allegro e vivace[6’36]
Sieben Charakterstücke Op 7
6 No 1 in E minor: Sanft und mit Empfindung[3’50]
7 No 2 in B minor: Mit heftiger Bewegung[2’09]
8 No 3 in D major: Kräftig und feurig[3’41]
9 No 4 in A major: Schnell und beweglich[3’45]
10 No 5 in A major: Fuga, Ernst und mit steigender Lebhaftigkeit[7’08]
11 No 6 in E minor: Sehnsüchtig[3’25]
12 No 7 in E major: Leicht und luftig[3’23]
Lieder ohne Worte I Op 19b
13 No 1 in E major: Andante con moto[3’27]
14 No 2 in A minor: Andante espressivo[2’33]
15 No 3 in A major: Molto allegro e vivace[2’29]
16 No 4 in A major: Moderato[2’02]
17 No 5 in F sharp minor: Poco agitato[3’37]
18 No 6 in G minor, ‘Venetianisches Gondellied’: Andante sostenuto[2’56]