Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 4 'Italian'
Le Concert des Nations/Jordi Savall
Alia Vox AVSA9955 58:23 mins
Mendelssohn was an inveterate tinkerer with his own music. Partly this derived from the clash between Classical and Romantic impulses that was such an important feature of his make-up, but also possibly that he had what one might call ‘an overactive mind’. Wagner famously complained that Mendelssohn ‘informed me once or twice that an unduly slow tempo was the devil, and for choice he would rather things were taken too fast.’ The original version of the ‘Italian’ Symphony dates from 1833 and is the version generally known, whereas his revision of the following year has remained relatively unknown, not being published until 2001. Having both versions on the same album gives us a splendid opportunity to compare the two. While the first movement is unchanged, there are many new readings in the other three movements; not that there’s any overall rationale for them, as in his changes to the String Octet, where the ‘Romantic’ original is ‘classicised’, shortened and almost brought to heel. Were the changes to the symphony all improvements? His sister Fanny thought not, and we may well agree, for instance when, in the middle section of the third movement, the delightful rumti-tumti rhythms on first violins are replaced by staid, undotted quavers. It’s sad that the performance (or is it just the recording?) is seriously vitiated by a nuisance that was common a few years ago, but seemed to have died out, namely the over-enthusiastic timpanist. Perhaps the player here felt that, being so slow to join the party, they needed to make their presence felt. Sadly, the racket destroys many of the climaxes, where the brass help obliterate contributions from high violins. Otherwise the playing is acceptable. Roger Nichols