Mendelssohn Kinderstücke

Howard Shelley continues to overturn the conventional wisdom about Mendelssohn’s unjustly neglected piano music, again demonstrating convincingly its claims on our attention.

The multiplicity of notes in Mendelssohn's piano music sometimes lays him open to the charge of 'note-spinning'. So what higher praise for Benjamin Frith than to say that thanks to his fluency, not a single work outstays its welcome here. The unchallengeable masterpiece is the Variations sérieuses, so enthusiastically taken up by Clara Schumann, and still a repertory work today. Frith characterises each variation with telling contrasts of tempo and touch without sacrificing the continuity and unity of the whole.

Felix Mendelssohn was only nineteen years old when little sister Fanny noted in her diary: 'My birthday party was fun… Felix gave me a' song without words' for my album; he would later write more of those fine pieces. ' In total it became eight albums, each with six Lieder ohne Worte. Someone once compared them to wild flowers, with Chopin's Nocturnes being compared to orchids. And of course those so-called orchids are by far the best represented in the catalogs and discographies. Fortunately there has been at least one great pianist who has still looked back to the Lieder ohne Worte. This 1974 set of Mendelssohn's complete Songs without Words, which Barenboim plays with such affectionate finesse, has dominated the catalog for nearly two decades, according to The Penguin Guide.

In 2017 Decca published the 10-CD Box "Mendelssohn Complete Piano Works”. The recordings (2005-2014) include 59 World Premieres.

Daniel Barenboim turns 75 in November 2017. Deutsche Grammophon celebrates his remarkable artistry as a pianist with an Anniversary Edition of his complete solo recordings on DG. This 38 CDs + 1 Bonus CD with rare first recordings from 1955 set presents a solo career spanning 60 years and shows his artistic development through very early recordings as a 13 year old to the present day. First CD release of over 300 minutes of re-mastered Westminster recordings. An original jackets collection.

A collection with top musicians! This set of 25 CD's offers superb quality piano music equally superbly executed by outstanding musicians such as Alfred Brendel, Sviatoslav Richter, Helene Grimaud, Hakon Austbo, Emil Gilels, Yevgeny Kissin… and the list goes on. Because of its repertoire and the outstanding performers The Piano Collection is an excellent choice for both newly "recruited" music lovers and connoisseurs.