Music lovers tend to take their taste in the classics for granted. But it is worthwhile to have the mind invigorated by listening to old works in a fresh way. Some recent releases that issue a challenge:
MENDELSSOHN: Five Symphonies; Three Overtures. Claudio Abbado conducting the London Symphony Orchestra (Deutsche Grammophon; 4 LPs or CDs). Imagine the history of 19th century music if Felix Mendelssohn had been the great romantic icon instead of Beethoven. In place of egocentric storms there would be grace and lucidity; instead of anguish there would be serenity and inner peace. The masterpieces produced by such disparate composers as Brahms, Wagner and Mahler % under Beethoven's spell are justly prized, of course, but the romantics could have used a little less irascibility and more agreeability.
This is not to say that Mendelssohn's music is merely happy talk. One of the greatest prodigies in musical history, young Felix wrote 13 symphonies for string orchestra before the age of 15 and produced a full-blown work of genius at age 17 in the dazzling, quicksilver Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream, the most successful purely instrumental interpretation of Shakespeare ever written. Yet Mendelssohn had the emotional range to evoke the craggy, forbidding atmosphere of the Hebrides in his "Fingal's Cave" Overture, summon up the combative spirit of the Scottish highlands in his Third Symphony and capture the religious fervor of Lutheranism in the "Reformation" Symphony. His was a winning, unaffected, protean talent that, like Mozart's or Schubert's, was snuffed out too early by his death at age 38.
Abbado and the London Symphony more than do justice to this underrated composer (Mendelssohn's reputation has still to recover fully from the damage the Nazis did to it), offering crisp, incisive performances. The "Italian" Symphony explodes in a burst of melody, its irresistible opening theme a shout of joy, its finale a whirling saltarello. But Abbado is just as persuasive in the Symphony No. 2, a religious choral work subtitled Hymn of Praise. Although structurally similar to Beethoven's Ninth, Mendelssohn's symphony is its emotional antithesis: calm where Beethoven is uneasy, confident where Beethoven is questioning, sacred where Beethoven is secular. Mendelssohn's is the other face of romanticism, and this set argues his case eloquently.
LISZT: Sonata in B Minor; Two Legends; The Blessing of God in Solitude. Francois-Rene Duchable, piano (Erato; LP or CD). Franz Liszt, the archetypal piano virtuoso, wrote only one sonata for his instrument, but what a sonata it is! Bril liant, bombastic, tender, devilishly diffi cult, structurally innovative, the nearly half-hour work is the summa of romantic piano technique, and every modern pianist must test his mettle with it to claim Liszt's mantle. Most opt for a straightforward, flashy approach, hoping to conquer the piece by sheer dexterity. Duchable, a young Frenchman with an especially rich tone, adopts a more reflective attitude, which gives the sonata dramatic coherence. He treats the work as a full-scale tone poem rather than a prolonged etude, savoring each section. The fireworks are going to come, he suggests, so why rush them? The shorter pieces get similarly thoughtful, impressive readings.