| Royal Classics |  |
| Disc No: ROY6447 | |
| Price: Sek. 51 |
The three overtures which begin this programme were not intended to precede operas. Ruy Blas is for Victor Hugo's drama, and The Hebrides Overture is really a symphonic poem inspired by the composer's visit to the Scottish isle of Staffa with its imposing natural cavern called Fingal's Cave. When he was 17 Mendelssohn wrote his overture for A Midsummer Night's Dream, a miraculous work of immense technical accomplishment and superb effect. A further 17 years elapsed before he returned to the subject with incidental music for the play. The Nocturne is notable for its horn melody, and the Scherzo for its feathery touch and adept orchestration. Even as an 'old man' of 34, he recaptured the youthful brilliance of the Overture. Although No 4 is probably Mendelssohn's most popular symphony, he did not allow it to be published during his lifetime. The reason may be that the last movement remains obstinately in A minor, and Mendelssohn felt that a Symphony 'in A major' should at least close in the major. Today the idea seems ludicrous: it if works, it's all right. And the Italian Symphony does work. The first movement is full of the bright sunshine of the composer's Italian holiday of 1830, sweeping the listener along with irresistible vigour. In the second movement a more sombre scene is set: it recalls a church procession he witnessed in Rome and is in D minor, a favourite key of the sacred music composer. Departing from the recent tradition that virtually demanded a Scherzo to be included somewhere in the middle of a symphony, Mendelssohn writes a smooth and flowing Minuet as a third movement, yet another Italian illusion perhaps, for earlier Italian composers were noted for the grace of their minuets. Finally, a Saltarello, a leaping Italian dance that, for all its minor tonality, provides an exhilarating conclusion. Robert Dearling Discontinued |
| Name: Mendelssohn Symphony No.4 | |
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| Composer | Opus | Produced | Music | Key | Performer |
| Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Felix | Op.95 | 1974 | Rus Blas Overture | The New Philharmonia Orchestra - Morshe Atzmon | |
| Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Felix | Op.26 | 1974 | The Hebrides Overture | ||
| Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Felix | Op.21 | 1961 | A midsommer night's Dream - Overture | Philharmonia Orchestra - Heinz Wallberg | |
| Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Felix | Op.61 no.1 | 1961 | A midsommer night's Dream - Scherzo | ||
| Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Felix | Op.61 no.7 | 1961 | A midsommer night's Dream - Nocturne | ||
| Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Felix | Op.90 | 1961 | Symphony no. 4 'Italien' | A major |