Felix MENDELSSOHN (1809-1847)
Piano Concerto No.1 in G minor, Op.25 (1831) [20:49]
Variations sérieuses Op. 54 (1841) [11:54]
Songs Without Words:
Op. 62/6: A major [2:00]
Op. 30/6: F sharp minor [2:20]
Op. 85/4: D major [2:24]
‘Reiterlied’ in D minor [1:46]
Op. 67/1: E-flat major [2:33]
Op. 38/2: C minor [2:05]
Op. 38/6: A flat major [2:44]
Op. 19/1: E major [3:07]
Op. 67/4: C major [1:47]
Op. 53/4: F major [3:09]
Martin Stadtfeld (piano)
Academy of St. Martin in the Fields/Sir Neville Marriner
rec. live, 19 July 2012, Rheingau Musik Festival, Friedrich-von-Thiersch-Saal,
Kurhaus Wiesbaden, Germany (Concerto), 6-9 July 2012, SWR Studio, Kaiserslautern,
Germany (solo piano)
SONY CLASSICAL 88725466322 [56:46]
Martin Stadtfeld hit the headlines in 2002 becoming
the first German pianist to win the International Johann Sebastian Bach
Competition in Leipzig. This Gackenbach-born pianist has made a number
of recordings including several of the music of J.S. Bach of which he
is considered something of a specialist. I attended an excellent concert
last May at the Dresden Music Festival with the assured Stadtfeld playing
the Dvořák Piano Concerto with the Czech Philharmonic
Orchestra under Ingo Metzmacher. For this Sony Classical release Stadtfeld
has now turned to the music of Felix Mendelssohn with selection of scores
that feature the First Piano Concerto. I have seen this Mendelssohn
release advertised with a bonus disc with Stadtfeld playing four extra
pieces: a Schumann work and three Bach pianos arrangements. There was
certainly no bonus disc with the release that I was sent.
Mendelssohn completed two mature piano concertos but it is the Piano
Concerto No.1 in G minor, Op 25from 1831 that is the most
likely to be heard today. The Piano Concerto No. 2 in D minor,
Op. 40 written some years later in 1837 is also a fine work and I’m
not sure that it deserves its relative neglect. There is also a very
early and little known Concerto in A minor for Piano and String Orchestra.
Although the autograph score is not dated it was, according to Mendelssohn’s
nephew Sebastian Hensel, composed in 1822 when Mendelssohn would have
been around 13 years old. Evidently it was performed at one of the Sonntagsmusiken
(Sunday musicales) held at the Mendelssohn residence in Berlin. In addition
Mendelssohn left an incomplete manuscript of a Third Piano Concerto
in E minor from 1842 which has been recorded in a reconstruction prepared
by Marcello Bufalini.
It was the twenty-two year old Mendelssohn who performed as soloist
when the First Piano Concerto No.1 was premièred in 1831
in Munich. It seems the work was received with great enthusiasm by the
Munich audience who included the King and Queen of Bavaria. Here Martin
Stadtfeld playing a glorious sounding Steinway Model D makes a splendid
case for the G minor score performing with vitality yet with a deep
sensitivity when required. I especially enjoyed Stadtfeld’s sparkling
playing of real poise and vibrancy in the Finale:Presto.
As I expected from such a fine orchestra the Academy of St. Martin in
the Fields provide confident support. The sound quality is to a high
standard with a lovely ambience. This is a most splendid performance
of the G minor Concerto that can stand alongside Murray Perahia’s
1974 London account that also uses the Academy of St. Martin in the
Fields under Sir Neville Marriner on Sony Classics.
The Variations sérieuses,Op. 54 from 1841 is considered
by many to be a great masterpiece of Romantic piano music. Mendelssohn
wrote it as his contribution to an “Album-Beethoven”,
a collection of works by several composers conceived in the hope of
raising money for a commemorative Beethoven statue in Bonn. This is
a substantial single movement score containing numerous and widely varying
emotions. Stadtfeld gives a confident interpretation with playing that
encompasses significant elegance and sparkling vivacity creating a sense
of brooding mystery and turbulence. I did wonder if the 1861 Blüthner
piano that Stadtfeld had chosen was rather holding him back in terms
of fluency.
Mendelssohn composed his eight volumes of Songs without Words
(Lieder ohne Worte) at various points in his life from 1830/45
with two of the volumes being published posthumously. These short lyrical
piano pieces are cleverly designed to be within the compass of pianists
of various abilities. Given the quality of these miniature pieces it
is hard to believe today that when Novello issued the first volume in
1832 after a year only a few dozen copies had been sold. In this selection
of ten Songs Without Words Stadtfeld strikes an ideal balance
between poise and stirring expression. I always enjoy hearing pieces
from Mendelssohn’s Songs without Words especially the Op.
19/1 in E major and Op. 67/4 in C major contained here. Overall I sensed
that the Blüthner piano was restricting the crispness of Stadtfeld’s
articulation. Both the Variations sérieuses and the selection
of pieces from the Songs without Words recorded at the SWR Studio,
Kaiserslautern sound a touch bright. In truth I didn’t find the
Blüthner piano particularly satisfying - it felt woody, dull and
lifeless.
Martin Stadtfeld is a classy pianist who is clearly at home in these
delightful Mendelssohn scores with the First Piano Concerto being
particularly successful. If you can’t get to hear Stadtfeld performing
in concert or recital this disc will provide some recompense.
Michael Cookson
