Mendelssohn: Concertos for Two Pianos

Featuring

Lev Markiz
Roland Pöntinen
Love Derwinger
Amsterdam Sinfonietta
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy

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Notable Performances

The first known performance of Mendelssohn's Concerto in E major for Two Pianos took place in Berlin on Fanny Mendelssohn's 19th birthday, with Felix and Fanny as soloists.

Composition History

Mendelssohn's Concerto in E major for Two Pianos was inspired by Mozart's similar concerto (K.365) and was written for himself and his sister Fanny.

Recording & Production

The Concerto in A flat major was inaccessible behind the Iron Curtain in East Berlin until George Mendelssohn, a descendant of the composer, arranged for microfilms to be sent to New York, leading to its first modern performance and recording in 1951-52.

Composition History

The manuscripts of these two double concertos were kept in the Berlin State Library for over a century, considered uninteresting exercises, until renewed interest from the gramophone industry around 1950.

Composer Biography

Mendelssohn grew up financially untroubled as the son of a wealthy banker, in whose home artists were welcomed and regular Sunday afternoon concerts were held.

Composer Biography

Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy was a brilliant pianist from a very early age, first taught by his mother, and later by Ludwig Berger (a pupil of Clementi) and Ignaz Moscheles.

Compositional Technique

The Concerto in A flat major for Two Pianos, written just before Mendelssohn's sixteenth birthday, is considered a work of genius and great maturity, marking a new period in his compositional style.