Although today we know Fanny Mendelssohn primarily because she
was the sister of the legendary composer Felix, the digital era
in recordings has prompted eager musicians to supply us with a
few bits and pieces from Fanny’s own considerable stock of excellent
compositions. We have had two major discs of her works for solo
piano before – one on BIS, with Beatrice Rauch, and the other
on Centaur, featuring Betty Ann Miller.
This
new Naxos Digital release, performed by Heather Schmidt and
available for downloading at Classicsonline, adds world premiere
recordings of several works and serves admirably as an introduction
to Fanny Mendelssohn’s piano music – or, indeed, to her style
as a whole. Newcomers to this composer will do well to start
here, and those already familiar with her wonderfully poetic
music will appreciate the new entry as well.
Fanny
Mendelssohn’s piano works are every bit as worthy as the piano
music of brother Felix, and if you enjoy the works of Robert
(or Clara) Schumann and perhaps even Schubert and Chopin, you
will find this album a delightful surprise. Fanny Mendelssohn’s
music is very well-crafted, melodically appealing, and possessed
of remarkable self-confidence. There are salon miniatures here
which are often very tender in mood – such as the beautiful
Lied in E flat, or the evocative two-minute “Schluss” written
when the composer was just eighteen years old – and there are
also two formal sonatas and several shorter works which are
quite technically demanding. If the attempts at a more serious
vein seem less authentic than the quieter, more heartfelt moments,
the results are always endearing.
For
the most part, the mood is one akin to the musical poetry we
find in Felix’s Songs Without Words. Indeed, the only
obvious advantage Felix had over his sister here is in giving
his music names: Fanny’s “Andante con Moto in E major” has all
the lyricism and beauty of the Songs Without Words, but
the title is not nearly as appealing. Even the two sonatas are
prone to poetic tune-spinning; if the opening movement of the
G minor is a bit too dramatic for its own good, the finale is
an extraordinary delight, and I imagine it is a joy to play
as well.
The
music here ranges from the composer’s teenage years – the final
three tracks were written before she turned twenty – to the
year before her untimely death at the age of forty-one. On my
first listen, however, I ignored the booklet notes and simply
played the album straight through. I doubt many listeners will
be able to distinguish the work of a teenager from that of a
mature adult with decades of experience; Fanny Mendelssohn,
like her more famous brother, seems to have been born with not
just an expressive gift but the confidence and maturity to share
it fully from a very early age. It is a pity that she was never
able to reach the public fame of her brother – but at least
today we can be glad to have recordings like this.
Though
I do not know the competing Centaur and BIS discs, I do see
that there is very little overlap in repertoire: Rauchs on BIS
performs the G minor sonata and the Andante con Moto in E, and
Miller on Centaur offers an alternative to the C minor sonata
and the Nocturne, but that leaves six (mostly short) works which
are entirely new on this recording by Heather Schmidt. Fanny
Mendelssohn aficionados, then, if there are that many, should
not hesitate in picking up this new album regardless of any
overlap it may cause.
Unfortunately
I cannot find any biographical information on the pianist, Heather
Schmidt. Naxos does not supply any details of her career in
their digital approximation of liner notes, and Schmidt’s startlingly
unhelpful website contains a single photograph, a few sound
samples of her own compositions, and no text at all. She deserves
better: these are very good performances indeed, technically
assured in the more challenging works and marvellously poetic
everywhere. Schmidt is as close to an ideal interpreter of Fanny
Mendelssohn that we are likely to get, and the music itself
is so wonderful that this disc recommends itself. Anyone interested
in the musical poetry of brother Felix’s Songs Without Words,
and any listener with a fondness for the intimacy of early romantic
piano music, should investigate this recording without hesitation.
As
a part of the Naxos Digital imprint, this album is currently
only available for download at the website Classicsonline, where
it sells for rather less than the price of a physical compact
disc.
Brian Reinhart
8.570825
