COMPOSERS: Mendelssohn
LABELS: Philips Duo
WORKS: Symphony No. 1; Symphony No. 2; Symphony No. 3; The Hebrides Overture
PERFORMER: Vocal soloists, Arthur Grumiaux (violin); LPO & Choir, Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra/ Bernard Haitink, Riccardo Chailly
CATALOGUE NO: 456 071-2/456 074-2 ADD 1960-80
A collection useful particularly for Grumiaux’s sweet-toned Violin Concerto (his earlier stereo version), and Chailly’s unpretentious, soloistically distinguished account of the Second Symphony. Haitink’s way is civilised and direct but could do with greater fire, his players often sounding more dutiful than inspired. Occasionally, he catches the imagination (an extraordinarily Yiddish Funeral March from the curtailed Midsummer Night’s Dream extracts; some fine moments in the concert overtures). Elsewhere he frustrates (no first-movement repeat in the Third Symphony; an anticlimactic Fifth). Ates Orga
Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 1; Symphony No. 2; Symphony No. 3; The Hebrides Overture
A collection useful particularly for Grumiaux’s sweet-toned Violin Concerto (his earlier stereo version), and Chailly’s unpretentious, soloistically distinguished account of the Second Symphony. Haitink’s way is civilised and direct but could do with greater fire, his players often sounding more dutiful than inspired. Occasionally, he catches the imagination (an extraordinarily Yiddish Funeral March from the curtailed Midsummer Night’s Dream extracts; some fine moments in the concert overtures). Elsewhere he frustrates (no first-movement repeat in the Third Symphony; an anticlimactic Fifth).
Our rating
4
Published: January 20, 2012 at 2:40 pm