290. Felix Mendelssohn - Piano Trios No. 1 & 2 (1839, 1845)

Recording

Title: Piano Trios 1 & 2
Performer: Florestan Trio
Year: 2003
Length: 54 minutes

Review

Mendelssohn gives us more of his immediately attractive music here. There is nothing much that is truly innovative here but it is very easy to like music. This is not always a bad thing.

I tend to prefer composers that really challenge me and my perception of what music sounded like at a certain age, however, I have a soft spot for Mendelssohn. He does anything but challenge and yet his music is just so goddamn likeable.

So he's not a Berlioz or a Wagner or even a Liszt, but he is a very competent composer of somewhat lighter music that just works really well from an harmonic point of view. Yeah it's nice.

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

During the initial composition of the work, Mendelssohn took the advice of a fellow composer, Ferdinand Hiller, and revised the piano part. The revised version was in a more romantic, Schumannesque style with the piano given a more important role in the trio. Indeed, the revised piece was reviewed by Schumann who declared Mendelssohn to be "the Mozart of the nineteenth century, the most illuminating of musicians."

First Movement: