In 1835 Felix Mendelssohn became music director of the Gewandhaus Orchestra in his native city of Leipzig. 135 years later, Kurt Masur became the orchestra’s Kapellmeister, remaining in the post for 26 years, so there is an indisputable seal of authenticity on these interpretations of the complete Mendelssohn Symphonies. Joining them in this collection, and making it unparalleled in its scope, are the complete early String Symphonies; they are performed on period instruments – and without a conductor – by Concerto Köln.
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REVIEW:
Masur chooses his speeds judiciously to bring out the freshness of inspiration, avoiding any hint of sentimentality in slow movements, taken at flowing speeds, while never making allegros sound fierce or breathless in the Solti manner.
The bloom on the Leipzig sound is beautifully captured in the lightly scored passages, which sound just as luminous as at the Proms, but then the moment the texture grows thicker, the rever be ant acoustic makes for much cloudier results. In the rippling scherzo of the Scottish, the notoriously difficult passage where the horns take up the main theme is very murky, but for obvious reasons it can never be ideally clear. Some of the woodwind solos are also rather recessed, though the flute at the start of the finale of the Italian is beautifully light and delicate, and the plangent oboe in its prominent solo in the finale of the Scottish is given natural balance with no obscuring.
Whatever the detailed reservations over the sound, those who in the past have enjoyed Leipzig recordings as engineered by the East Germans need hardly worry.
