The larger part of
this disc consists of the Peters Edition
collection of Mendelssohn’s vocal duets,
whose florid original cover is illustrated
in the booklet (the modern reprint is
plainer), played "neat", as
it were. That is to say, the twelve
original pieces Mendelssohn actually
wrote for two voices and piano, plus
five pieces, originally with orchestral
accompaniment, taken from religious
and other works, including the well-known
"I waited for the Lord", so
beloved of our great-grandparents. Though
these latter have provided – and provide
– much domestic enjoyment in their reduced
form, I question whether there is really
a market for them on disc in these arrangements
("I waited" calls for a chorus
as well). Included in the Peters Edition
but not here are the duet by Mendelssohn’s
sister Fanny and that from Die Hochzeit
des Camacho – these are scored for
soprano and tenor.
Another difference
compared with the Peters Edition is
that they are all sung in a Swedish
translation. Quite what the point of
this is in our increasingly global village
– and when the Scandinavians always
seem such able linguists – I cannot
imagine. Maybe the booklet notes attempt
a justification, but since they are
in Swedish only (the only concession
to non-Swedes is the provision of the
original German texts) I really have
no idea what they say.
You might say that,
since Mendelssohn never went in for
the sort of detailed word-painting essayed
by some of his colleagues, maybe it
is enough to let the music lap over
us and forget about the words, but on
the other hand, however much or little
Mendelssohn made of them, we have here
some of the great names of German poetry,
such as Heine (3 pieces), Eichendorff
and Uhland, and surely their original
texts have a music of their own. And,
if the Druves are terminally allergic
to German, it might have been interesting
to try singing the Burns piece (op.63/5)
to its original Scottish text.
All this might have
been forgotten in the face of great
performances, but these are merely serviceable
ones. I presume the Druves are sisters,
and they are billed as two sopranos,
though Lilian (if it is she who takes
the lower line) has a darker voice,
more suggestive of a mezzo (but this
may be an illusion since in some of
the religious pieces which are really
written for two equal sopranos, rather
than a higher voice and a lower one,
the difference between them is less
evident. They blend well, except that
Anneli’s tendency to begin high, sustained
notes very softly and let them swell
gradually while Lilian, lower down,
attacks her note strongly immediately,
means that in these moments the lower
note dominates, creating an apparent
distortion of the melodic line. When
on their own, however – the religious
pieces often give them an extended solo
each before having them sing together
– they seem somewhat tremulous and insecure.
The pianist is reasonably
supportive, but in a piece like Gruss
(op.63/3) he cannot avoid his repeated
eighth-notes chugging heavily. All this
might offer a pleasing enough peep into
a domestic Swedish evening, but might
not the participants in such an evening
have brought along something by composers
of their own country? I have really
no idea what duet repertoire exists
from Swedish composers, but surely an
hour’s worth could be found and, while
I don’t think the Druves are great singers,
they are more than good enough to act
as guides to something out-of-the-way
and interesting.
The organ pieces don’t
change things much, although at least
there is no linguistic problem. I haven’t
a complete list of Mendelssohn’s organ
music to hand but if anyone who has
already collected the sonatas is wondering
if this might be a neat way of collecting
the odds and ends, then at the very
least there is a fugue in E minor not
included here. In the only piece of
which I had a score, the fugue in F
minor, I thought Holm’s tempo very slow
and laboured – the Lento marking surely
refers to the dotted fourth-note rather
than the eighth-notes. But, while a
faster tempo might make it bearable,
this is Mendelssohn at his most anonymous
and I can hardly think the music would
actually become interesting. The best
piece seems to be the Andante, and here
Holm chooses his stops for maximum variety,
and he seems generally to be more effective
on the organ than on the piano.
Moderately recommended
for those who wish to hear Mendelssohn
sung in Swedish – that’s about the size
of it.
Christopher Howell
Anneli and Lilian Druve (sopranos), Steffan Holm
(piano, organ) 
