Mendelssohn: Concerto for Violin, Piano and Orchestra, Concerto for Violin and String Orchestra in D Minor

Featuring

Solomiya Ivakhiv
Theodore Kuchar
Antonio Pompa-Baldi
Slovak National Symphony Orchestra
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy

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Composer's Artistic Vision

Mendelssohn's fascination with Baroque music, especially J.S. Bach, and his 1829 revival of the St Matthew Passion, had enormous implications for the subsequent development of Western music.

Performer Biography

Theodore Kuchar, the conductor on this album, is the most recorded conductor of his generation, appearing on over 130 albums for various labels.

Composition History

Mendelssohn completed five of his eight concertos before his sixteenth birthday, including the two early concertos featured on this album.

Composer Biography

Felix Mendelssohn was a child prodigy whose brilliance, in some ways, eclipsed even Mozart, producing masterpieces like the Octet for Strings and the Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream in his mid-teens.

Historical Context

Mendelssohn's reputation suffered extreme swings, from being lionized in his lifetime to being attacked by figures like Richard Wagner and having his music banned by the Nazis due to rising anti-Semitism.

Performer Biography

Antonio Pompa-Baldi, the Italian pianist on this album, won the Cleveland International Piano Competition in 1999 and a silver medal at the 2001 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.

Performer Biography

Solomiya Ivakhiv, the Ukrainian violinist on this album, is the Artistic Director of the 'Music at the Institute' (MATI) Concert Series in New York City and performs on a Tetsuo Matsuda, ex Joseph Silverstein violin.