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
A classy pianist clearly at home in these delightful scores.
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