Mendelssohn honoured by Aachen musicians

The Sinfonieorchester Aachen under Marcus Bosch extract every last note from Mendelssohn's Symphony Nos 1 with urgency

Composer: Mendelssohn
Repertoire: Symphonies Nos 1 & 5
Artists: Sinfonieorchester Aachen/Marcus Bosch
Rating: 4/5
Genre: Orchestra 
Label: Coviello Classics COV 30910

The prodigy was 15 when he wrote his First Symphony in 1824, the year of Beethoven’s Ninth, but it is more nostalgically Mozartian than any challenge to the great symphonist. The Aachen musicians are set on extracting the work’s full worth. Urgency characterises their play, dry timpani saluting the composer’s arrival, rich strings anticipating even Sibelius, the wind solos advertising melodic gifts. Bold solidity marks the Fifth, the rising ‘Dresden Amen’ (which Wagner used in Parsifal) hailing Luther, the chorale tune trying too hard perhaps to honour past masters. The righting of wrongs done to this undervalued composer continues.