Félix Mendelssohn : The Complete Solo Piano Music (Volume 1)

Piano International (Jul, 2013)
This is the pick of my crop this time. The icing on the cake is that it is only volume one of a complete series. The Op 5 Capriccio (1825) is beautifully playful, revealed in astonishing, fluent playing and perfectly captured in Ben and Annabel Connellan’s recording, while Shelley reveals the Op 6 Piano Sonata as a piece of real depth. The Adagio is very sparse for Mendelssohn, with Shelley creating moments of breathtaking beauty. Two sets complete the disc: the Charakterstucke include two fugues, the first of which comes as a (pleasant) surprise, the second more extended and more Bachian, its climax beautifully moulded by Shelley. The famous first set …