Mendelssohn & Mendelssohn-Hensel: Works for Cello & Piano

Album review

This album brings together two of the most exceptional chamber musicians of the contemporary scene, whose elegance and natural flair do wonders for the works of Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn Bartholdy. Scottish pianist Alasdair Beatson plays a beautiful 1837 Érard from the Collection Edwin Beunk, a similar instrument to the one that Mendelssohn owned in his Berlin residence, where the major works of this luminous programme were first performed. Johannes Moser, on the other hand, has borrowed a sumptuous Andrea Guarneri cello of 1694 from a private patron, and its fine autumnal tones can be heard here. Not only do the partners offer up what must surely be the finest version of the two cello solos by Felix Mendelssohn on period instruments, but also they allow us to reconsider to talent of the composer's sister, Fanny Hensel, thanks to two fairly short works of hers, one Fantasy in G Minor and one Capriccio in A Flat Major. A magnificent album, which makes one hope that the duo will soon start a regular collaboration with Pentatone. © Pierre-Yves Lascar/Qobuz

German-Canadian cellist Johannes Moser and Scottish pianist Alasdair Beatson present a moving portrait of the Mendelssohn family with this recording of pieces by the siblings Felix and Fanny. Once composed for the popular "Sunday Sessions" at the Berlin Mendelssohn family house, these works fit into the typically nineteenth-century tradition of domestic music-making, albeit at the highest thinkable level. Beatson plays an 1837 Érard fortepiano, identical to the instrument that belonged to the Mendelssohn household when these pieces were composed. Besides Felix Mendelssohn’s two sonatas for cello and piano, his Variations concertantes, Op.17, Lied ohne Worte, Op.109 and Albumblatt in B Minor are featured. Fanny Hensel-Mendelssohn’s Fantasia in G Minor and Capriccio in A-flat Major show what could have become of this talented female composer if societal conventions had not restricted her musical activities to the private salon. © Pentatone