Amalfi (1836 watercolour after a pencil drawing done in situ 1831) by Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
The Bodleian Library, Oxford, MS. M. Deneke Mendelssohn c. 21, fol. 123r
CDA67753
Recording details: November 2008
Concert Hall, Wyastone Estate, Monmouth, United Kingdom
Produced by Andrew Keener
Engineered by Simon Eadon
Release date: July 2010
DISCID: D30AD212 F40BEF12
Total duration: 95 minutes 5 seconds
‘Hyperion’s series of Mendelssohn’s neglected vocal pieces continues to spread enchantment, thanks in part to young British talent. Katherine Broderick and Hannah Morrison, wonderfully clear and expressive sopranos, top the line-up gathered by Eugene Asti … Genius is frequent and Mendelssohn’s charm almost constant’ (The Independent)
'Eugene Asti plays with a refreshingly light touch and a lively sense of rhythm' (Gramophone)
Eugene Asti’s pioneering Mendelsson Songs and Duets series, containing a large number of first recordings and rarities, concludes with this fifth volume, a generous two CDs for the price of one. The contents range from Mendelssohn’s first extant composition of any kind – a birthday song presented to his father by the precocious ten-year-old composer – to settings of the German romantic poets Schiller, Goethe and Eichendorff, which place Mendelssohn firmly in the canon of the great Lieder composers.
These works are performed by a talented group of young singers who will be familiar from other discs in the series, including the winner of the 2008 Kathleen Ferrier prize, Katherine Broderick.