Mendelssohn: Symphonies Nos. 4 "Italian" & 5 "Reformation"

Mendelssohn: Symphonies Nos. 4 "Italian" & 5 "Reformation"
- GARDINER JOHN ELIOT / WIENER P
- MUSICA CLASICA
- INTERNATIONAL
- MUSIC
Mendelssohn was not like Beethoven or Verdi--his second thoughts were not always better than his first. In fact, not one of the changes he made in his 1834 revision to the Italian Symphony--recorded here for the first time, alongside the original version of 1833--strikes me as an improvement; indeed, the later effort sounds more like a first draft, thinner, more repetitive, melodically less engaging. Nonetheless, it's good to have the composer's refashioning of the score on disc, especially when it's performed as confidently as here, if only to give us a renewed appreciation of what he achieved the first time around. For the familiar version of the Italian Symphony is certainly a masterpiece. And the performance it receives here from the Vienna Philharmonic and John Eliot Gardiner is one of the best currently available: polished and energetic, with plenty of the elegance one expects in Mendelssohn, even when he's at his most animated. The account of the Reformation Symphony, recorded live, is marginally less successful as an interpretation, though the orchestra's playing leaves little to be desired. --Ted Libbey
Country USA
Brand Deutsche Grammophon
Manufacturer DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON
Binding Audio CD
ItemPartNumber 028945915623
Model 1991426
ReleaseDate 1999-03-09
UnitCount 1
UPCs 028945915623
EANs 0028945915623

Country	USA
Brand	Deutsche Grammophon
Manufacturer	DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON
Binding	Audio CD
ItemPartNumber	028945915623
Model	1991426
ReleaseDate	1999-03-09
UnitCount	1
UPCs	028945915623
EANs	0028945915623

Mendelssohn: Symphonies Nos. 4 "Italian" & 5 "Reformation"

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