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MENDELSSOHN: Cello Sonatas Nos. 1 and 2 / Variations Concertantes (Kristin Merscher/ Maria Kliegel/ Teije van Geest) (Naxos: 8.550655)


Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809 - 1847)

Cello Sonata No. 1 in B Flat Major, Op. 45
Variations concertantes, Op. 17
Cello Sonata No. 2 in D Major, Op. 58
Song without Words, Op. 109



Mendelssohn's subsequent career was intense and brief. He set tied in Leipzig as conductor of the Gewandhaus concerts, and was instrumental in establishing the Conservatory there. Briefly lured to Berlin by the King of Prussia and by the importunity of his family, he spent an unsatisfactory year or so as director of the music section of the Academy of Arts, providing music for a revival of classical drama under royal encouragement. The appointment he was glad to relinquish in 1844, later returning to his old position in Leipzig, where he died in 1847.


The first of Mendelssohn's two sonatas for cello and piano was written in 1838 for the composer's brother Paul. The first movement opens with a statement of the first bars by both instruments, the first motif developed in a passage leading to the second subject and contributing largely to the central development. The G minor slow movement develops gradually from its own opening figure, in music of increasing elaboration. The last movement starts with a cello statement of the principal theme, which frames episodes of contrasting rhythm and texture. The sonata ends with a gentle coda.

Mendelssohn performed his second cello sonata, written in 1843, in London in 1845 with the cellist Piatti. The highly characteristic D major first movement starts in a splendidly cheerful mood, moving forward to a less robust second subject. There is an exciting central development section, followed by a fuller recapitulation and histrionic coda. The B minor second movement is a scherzo, its lightness of mood stressed by the plucked notes of the cello. A brief slow movement in G major, with widespread arpeggiated piano chords offering a chorale on which the cello meditates in a passionate recitative. The sonata ends with a finale of rapid brilliance.

The Variations concertantes, Opus 17, were written in 1827 for Mendelssohn's fourteen-year-old brother Paul. The two instruments share the theme. The first of the eight variations leaves the theme to the cello, to which the piano provides a varied accompaniment. The second and third variations make use of corn pound and contrasting rhythms respectively. The fourth version of the material, marked Allegro con fuoco, allows chief activity to the piano, while the plucked strings of the cello echo the opening figures of the fifth. In the following variation the cello adds a constantly moving semiquaver accompaniment to the piano and this is followed by a variation marked Presto ad agitato, much of the agitation entrusted to the piano. A sustained note from the cello links and accompanies the final version of the theme, before the exciting variety of the coda and hushed conclusion.

The notion of a song without words was an original one, yet it suited very well the short character pieces for piano that Mendelssohn wrote. He wrote one such piece for cello and piano, a compliment to Lisa Christiani, this short work was probably written in 1845, the year of the last Songs without Words for piano, which it closely resembles in mood and form, an outer D major Andante framing a more excited D minor central section.

Maria Kilegel
Maria Kliegel achieved significant success in 1981, when she was awarded the Grand Prix in the Rostropovich Competition. Born in Dillenburg, Germany, she began learning the cello at the age of ten and first came to public attention five years later, when, as a student at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt, she twice won first prize in the Jugend Musiziert competition. She later studied in America with János Starker, serving as his assistant, and subsequently appeared in a phenomenal series of concerts in America, Switzerland and France, with Rostropovich as conductor. She has since then enjoyed an international career of growing distinction as a soloist and recitalist, offering an amazingly wide repertoire, ranging from Bach and Vieuxtemps to the contemporary.

Kristin Merscher
Kristin Merscher was born in Frankfurt am Main and as a seven-year-old had her first regular piano instruction there at the Conservatory. One year later she moved with her family to Hanover, studying at the Hanover Hochschule for Musik. From 1977 until 1980 she studied in Paris with an eminent teacher at the Conservatoire, with regular summer master-classes with György Sabok in Switzerland and at Indiana University. She made her début at the age of ten in a piano concerto by Haydn and her first solo recital at the age of fourteen, later embarking on a solo career which has taken her to the principal music centres of Europe, to the Far East and to Canada and the United States of America, as well as to the Middle East.

Item number 8550655
Barcode 4891030506558
Release date 01/01/2000
Category Chamber | Classical Music
Label Naxos Classics | Naxos Records
Media type CD
Number of units 1
Artists Maria Kliegel
Kristin Merscher
Composers Felix Mendelssohn
Producers Teije van Geest
Disc: 1
1 I. Allegro vivace
2 II. Andante
3 III. Allegro assai
Variations concertantes, Op. 17
4 Thema: Andante con moto
5 Variation 1
6 Variation 2
7 Variation 3: Piu vivace
8 Variation 4: Allegro con fuoco
9 Variation 5: L'istesso tempo
10 Variation 6: L'istesso tempo
11 Variation 7: Presto ed agitato
12 Variation 8: Tempo I - Coda
Cello Sonata No. 2 in D major, Op. 58
13 I. Allegro assai vivace
14 II. Allegretto scherzando
15 III. Adagio
16 IV. Molto allegro e vivace
Song Without Words in D major, Op. 109
17 Andante
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