Sonata No 4 in Bb, 3rd Movement, Allegretto скачать в хорошем качестве

Sonata No 4 in Bb, 3rd Movement, Allegretto

Mendelssohn packed an extraordinary amount into his short life - he died from a stroke at the age of 38. He was a prolific composer, a coveted conductor, a fine pianist and a highly regarded organist. His work took him to various parts of Europe and he was particularly popular in England, where his monumental oratorio 'Elijah' was performed in 1846, a year before his death. His organ recitals in England (notably including St Paul's Cathedral) drew large audiences and in 1845 an English publisher commissioned him to write a set of six organ pieces. Mendelssohn chose to call this ambitious collection 'Sonatas' but their forms do not conform to Classical conventions. This 3rd movement is a song without words in three sections. Stanzas 1 and 3 in F major suggest a verse/chorus structure while the middle stanza, in the minor, imaginatively explores chromaticism. A lyrical melody is accompanied throughout by flowing semiquavers, while the pedals punctuate the harmonic movement. A note about my interpretation. I have enjoyed many performances of this movement where the opening soprano melody is played on a solo stop on a separate manual. Similarly, in the middle section, where the melody moves to the tenor, this is frequently significantly more prominent than the accompanying semiquavers. In my (Breitkopf) score the soprano melody is not marked to be played on a separate melody and the tenor melody, while indicated to be played on a separate manual, is marked 'pp', just as the opening. I state this not to claim that mine is the only correct version but merely to justify an alternative reading. I am most grateful to Richard Mander, the Director of Music at St Mildred's, for allowing me to record on the church's wonderful new instrument and to The Gauze House Studios for the excellent production.