JJ Knight & Jack Hunter Bareback in Birmingham

‘Mendelssohn in Birmingham’ is an exciting new recording project with the CBSO and its Principal Guest Conductor, Edward Gardner. It celebrates Mendelssohn’s special relationship with the city’s Town Hall and will feature the complete symphonies recorded there. It was a venue much loved by Mendelssohn and saw him conduct many of his own works there, including premieres. ‘Mendelssohn in Birmingham’ also encompasses a major concert series at the Town Hall which will run alongside these recordings.

'Mendelssohn in Birmingham’ is an exciting new recording project with the CBSO and its Principal Guest Conductor, Edward Gardner. It celebrates Mendelssohn’s special relationship with the city’s Town Hall and will feature the complete symphonies recorded there. It was a venue much loved by Mendelssohn and saw him conduct many of his own works there, including premieres. ‘Mendelssohn in Birmingham’ also encompasses a major concert series at the Town Hall which will run alongside these recordings.

Felix Mendelssohn did visit the city of Birmingham several times, but the Chandos label's Mendelssohn in Birmingham series refers for the most part to these contemporary performances by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under Edward Gardner. If you've been interested in trying out an item from the series, this one can be recommended strongly. The low-key, lyrical approach of conductor Gardner works beautifully in these two pieces. Especially effective is the Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64, in the hands of violinist Jennifer Pike: she catches the novel role of the soloist in this concerto in a way that bigger performances do not.