Felix & Fanny Mendelssohn - Complete Piano Trios | Brilliant Classics 94490

Felix & Fanny Mendelssohn - Complete Piano Trios

Label: Brilliant Classics

Cat No: 94490

Format: CD

Number of Discs: 2

Genre: Chamber

Release Date: 25th March 2013

Contents

Artists

Hrvoje Jugovic (piano)
Maria Bader‐Kubizek (violin)
Dorothea Schonwiese‐Guschlbauer (cello)
Silvia Schweinberger (viola)

Works

Mendelssohn, Fanny

Piano Trio in D minor, op.11

Mendelssohn, Felix

Piano Trio in C minor (1820)
Piano Trio in C minor, op.66
Piano Trio in D minor, op.49

Artists

Hrvoje Jugovic (piano)
Maria Bader‐Kubizek (violin)
Dorothea Schonwiese‐Guschlbauer (cello)
Silvia Schweinberger (viola)

About

The father of Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn eagerly facilitated their artistic upbringing. Felix's musical career took off from a young age and he was dubbed by Robert Schumann as 'the Mozart of the 19th century', while his similarly talented older sister was expected to keep music only as a hobby. This did not stop her from composing many pieces for playing in the home, some of which were later published under Felix's name. She is considered the most important female composer of the era.

This collection brings together the Piano Trios of the siblings. Felix's unusually scored Trio for piano, violin and viola in C minor was written when he was just ten years old. Beginning with a Baroque-style theme, its elfin motif, as featured later, is a clear precursor to the music of A Midsummer Night's Dream Op.49. It dates from Felix's mature period and boasts a spectacular piano part, which the composer himself played at the premiere (the first movement has been referred to as a 'perfect synthesis of the mastery of Classical form with Romantic diction').

Op.66, meanwhile, is a passionate and exciting work - his penultimate chamber piece and one that revisits elfin themes in the Scherzo, ending in a resplendent Bach-style chorale.

The last work featured on the set, Fanny's Piano Trio contains a virtuosic piano part that begins with dramatic tremolos but later evolves into a calm, harp-like accompaniment, with a dance-like finale revisiting the second theme to provide a jubilant end to the collection.

At the keyboard is Hrvoje Jugovic, who plays four different historical pianos throughout the recording. His fellow musicians are violinist Maria Bader-Kubizek, cellist Dorothea Schonwiese-Guschlbauer and violist Silvia Schweinberger.

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