Felix Mendelssohn
Piano Rarities – Songs Without Words; Early Sonatas
Christopher Williams (piano)
Naxos 8.574509 75:19 mins
There seems to be no limit to the Felix Mendelssohn discoveries that are still coming to light and enjoying their first publication nearly 215 years after his birth. Composing prolifically from childhood onwards, he was a tremendous perfectionist and carefully selected the works he wished to publish, often reworking them obsessively time and again. This means two things: first, plenty was not issued and so is ripe for discovery; but secondly, there’s a good chance that he had left it in manuscript for a good reason and it may not take a form that he would actually have allowed to go to print, given the chance.
Having said that, there’s no such thing as too much Mendelssohn. Everything can tell us something about him that we still need to know – especially given the accumulation of myth and slander that still blight his reputation even today – and this collection of little-known piano works is no exception. His driven personality and bubbling creativity emerges in pieces like Wie die Zeit lüft! (How time flies), with its endless and tireless passagework; his love of Beethoven’s early sonatas is clear in both his own that open the album, written when he was 11 (and before Beethoven had written his late sonatas); and many pieces show his penchant for twinkling dexterity, clear harmonies, skilful counterpoint and, often, a good tune.
The collection will be of most interest to aficionados; the pieces are not exactly on a par with the Violin Concerto, and do not offer miraculous revelations. But praise to Christopher Williams for pursuing this worthwhile project and generally playing it very well. There can’t have been many teenaged composers who made life quite so difficult for their pianists. Jessica Duchen
