Felix MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY (1809-1847)
Songs Without Words, Book 1, Op 19b [13:52]
Songs Without Words, Book 2, Op 30 [15:23]
Songs Without Words, Book 3, Op 38 [13:29]
Songs Without Words, Book 4, Op 53 [14:53]
Five unpublished Songs Without Words (1828-1837) [10:02]
Ronald Brautigam (fortepiano)
rec. August 2011, Österåker Church, Sweden
BIS BIS-SACD-1982 
[69:19]
Ronald Brautigam’s Mendelssohn
is so good it’s easy not to notice how good it is. That is, this
playing feels so natural, so effortless, so perfectly songlike (
cantabile!)
that it’s tempting to think, “why
wouldn’t
the music sound like this?”
That said, an awful lot of skill went into this recital of twenty-nine
Songs Without Words (including five which, unpublished, are omitted
from many “complete” recordings). Listen to how Brautigam
is always able to “float” the melody over its accompaniment
without making the melodic notes feel forced or over-emphasized; listen
to how the long line is preserved so that you can easily imagine the
broader “songs” (say, Op. 30/5) being sung from start to
completion. Listen, in the very first track, to how incredibly busy
Brautigam is keeping his left hand without showing any strain, and without
letting the melody sag for a second. Occasional rubato, the most tasteful
of pauses and delayed chords: Brautigam uses many an artistic trick
without ever seeming to be trying at all. A lot of these selections
are played very quickly, which makes their ease and luminous beauty
all the more impressive. The first four books take 58 minutes, versus
Michael
Korstick’s 62. It all sounds natural. This Mendelssohn breathes
like a living thing.
There are two things left to be praised: the sound, up to BIS’s
atmospheric standards - more resonant and less dry than, say, Hyperion’s
piano recitals; I prefer the BIS style. The piano is a Paul McNulty
fortepiano built in 2010 after an 1830 Pleyel. It is a superb instrument,
and although the 1830s Grafs are the warmest instruments of all to my
ears, this one is very well-suited to the music at hand. If you don’t
think a fortepiano can sing, think again. A superb recital.
Brian Reinhart
