Description
Mendelssohn: Cello Sonatas Nos. 1 & 2, Variations concertantes – Kliegel, Merscher, Naxos (CD)
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Product Details
- UPC: 4891030506558
- Catalogue Number: 8.550655
- Brand/Label: Naxos
- Composer: Felix Mendelssohn
- Performers: Maria Kliegel, cello · Kristin Merscher, piano
- Release Year: 1994 (recorded 7–8 November 1992)
- Genre: Classical – Chamber Music
- Country of Producing: Germany
Product Features
- Format: Audio CD, DDD (fully digital recording), Stereo
- Total playing time: 62:25
- Cover artwork: Countryside around Lake Chiem, and rainbow, by Eduard Schleich Sr.
Overview
Mendelssohn's two cello sonatas rarely get programmed together outside a disc like this, which makes the pairing genuinely useful — you hear how much ground he covered between the earlier B-flat sonata and the more expansive Op. 58 in D major, written a decade later for his cellist brother Paul. Maria Kliegel plays with a warm, singing tone that suits Mendelssohn's melodic writing without tipping into sentimentality, and Kristin Merscher's piano part, which Mendelssohn wrote as a genuine equal partner rather than mere accompaniment, gets the prominence it needs. The Variations concertantes add a lighter, more virtuosic piece to the programme, and the disc closes with an arrangement of the well-known Song Without Words in D major — a nice bonus rather than padding. Recorded at Heidelberg's Clara Wieck Auditorium, the balance between cello and piano is well judged throughout. A strong, complete-feeling survey of Mendelssohn's cello output on a single disc.
Interesting Facts
- Cello Sonata No. 2, Op. 58, was written for Mendelssohn's own brother Paul, an accomplished amateur cellist.
- Mendelssohn gave the piano an unusually active, virtuosic role in both sonatas, treating it as a true chamber-music equal rather than accompaniment.
- The Variations concertantes, Op. 17, were composed when Mendelssohn was still a teenager, showing his precocious command of both instruments.
- The closing Song Without Words, Op. 109, is a cello-and-piano arrangement of one of Mendelssohn's most recognizable solo piano miniatures.
- This recording, like several other Naxos chamber discs of the era, was made at the Clara Wieck Auditorium in Heidelberg, named for the pianist-composer who married Robert Schumann.
Track Listing
Cello Sonata No. 1 in B Flat Major, Op. 45
- Allegro vivace – 9:21 · 2. Andante – 6:37 · 3. Allegro assai – 6:47
Variations concertantes, Op. 17
- Thema: Andante con moto – 1:10 · 5. Variation 1 – 0:34 · 6. Variation 2 – 0:28 · 7. Variation 3: Più vivace – 0:35 · 8. Variation 4: Allegro con fuoco – 0:38 · 9. Variation 5: L'istesso tempo – 0:46 · 10. Variation 6: L'istesso tempo – 0:33 · 11. Variation 7: Presto ed agitato – 1:35 · 12. Variation 8: Tempo I – Coda – 3:18
Cello Sonata No. 2 in D Major, Op. 58
- Allegro assai vivace – 8:04 · 14. Allegretto scherzando – 4:54 · 15. Adagio – 5:02 · 16. Molto allegro e vivace – 7:00
Song Without Words in D Major, Op. 109
- Andante – 4:37
Publishers
Naxos, part of the Naxos Music Group. Recorded at the Clara Wieck Auditorium, Heidelberg (producer/engineer Teije van Geest, music notes Keith Anderson). Distributed by MVD Music and Video Distribution GmbH, Unterhaching/Munich, Germany.
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