The Mendelssohn Effect

Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy's music is growing on me. I fear it may too be growing on the South Liverpool Rehearsal Orchestra's conductor too, although he probably would not admit to it.


I've always liked Mendelssohn and studied the Hebrides Overture at A Level. Although our analysis focused on the Scottish influences to the overture rather than studying Mendelssohn's music in particular, I find it is easier to identify a piece as Mendelssohn more so than other composers (not least because his name is written on the music in front of me!). With the orchestra we've already played the Scottish Symphony and now we've moved onto the Italian. What stands out is how relatively simple it is to hear the cultural heritage of both symphonies. My immediate impression on the first run through was that this is what the soundtrack to The Sopranos would have sounded like had television and HBO been around during Mendelssohn's time!


Like Schubert's Unfinished symphony that the orchestra played last year, Mendelssohn elicits strong melodic lines that I find myself repeating in the car from rehearsals and over the next few days. I also like the way he tends to couple the Trumpet (I'd say Brass section but there's only me and a Horn!) with the Horn in similar fashion to a lot of music we play by Beethoven, Dvorak, Rossini, Schubert etc., then almost from no-where send them their separate ways. The Trumpet part in particular often bears little resemblance to what's gone before and I confess it often takes me a few passes to piece it all together. The result is often quite an astute and poignant decoration of a more dramatic or climatic section of the music. (I hope I don't insult with the inclusion of 'astute'. It is meant to convey subtle, discrete writing that captures the poignancy of the Trumpet accompaniment).


The Mendelssohn isn't the only piece that has caught my attention this term. I'm really taking a liking to a lot of the repertoire. At the moment Beethoven's Egmont Overture and Tchaikovsky's Orchestral Suite No 4 (better known as 'Mozartiana') in addition to the Italian symphony make quite a set list during rehearsals. The Egmont offers some dramatic Trumpet blowing and the Mozartiana, although lacking in serious employment for the Trumpet, is great to listen to (while counting, obviously!). 


The concert is planned for the end of May, more details to follow.