Notes and Editorial Reviews
Felix Mendelssohn was fond of organs and organ music and wrote idiomatically for the instrument. Since you just about never hear his organ music in recital or concert, that part of his output -limited as it is - remains ignored. A pity, I suppose, since his organ writing, like so much of Mendelssohn in any genre, can be uncommonly attractive.
Before delving into two of Mendelssohn’s six sonatas, Israeli organist and Mendelssohn-expert Yuval Rabin throws in the sweetly angelic Andante in D major (1844) and the brief, adventurous double-Fugue of the Andante in G minor (1833). He commands the light and brightly colorful instrument of picturesque St. Marzellus in Gersau, idyllically situated on the shore of Lake Lucerne. It has
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been painstakingly restored to its original early 19th century state just last year, mechanical action, wedge-bellows, and all. It is an organ very much of Mendelssohn’s time.
The second of the six op. 65 Sonatas opens with a distinctive, stark motif of separate two-note cells. It then moves on to the much more melodic, simple, and lyrical character in the Adagio cumulating in the complex, busy fugue of the Allegro. The simple F major Andante loosens things up one more time before Rabin gets to work on the fourth Sonata in B-flat major: First a stern toccata (with hints of “St.Anne” / BWV 552), then an Andante religioso (with premonitions of “England’s Lane”). Penultimately, there’s a particularly delightful and minimally, charmingly voiced*, elegant Allegretto.
The recital closes with Ersatz-Mendelssohn of sorts: Rabin’s Hommage à Mendelssohn is a highly enjoyable set of four Variation-improvisations on the song “Yedid Nefesh” in the style of Mendelssohn. This is the sort of thing he often does in concerts-especially, he writes in the liner notes: those on Friday, before the Sabbath.
The sound on this varied and interestingly programmed disc breathes naturally in the fairly short but open reverb and natural resonance of St. Marzellus.
The liner booklet is superb: every bit of information an organ aficionado could look for. This includes the voicing of each individual track (*Hauptwerk: sub-octave coupled Waldflaute 4’, Positif: Gamba 8’, Pedal: Sub Bass 16’, Violoncello 8’ in the above mentioned Allegretto from Sonata No.4, for example). The notes are informative, and the translation faultless. If you happen to be set up for SACD and MDG’s three dimensional sound (“2+2+2”, four front speakers; two low, two high, and two in the rear) you can enjoy this disc’s already excellent sonics in even greater plasticity.
– MusicWeb International (Jens F. Laurson) Read less
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