Mendelssohn: Works for Cello and Piano

Featuring

Paul Watkins
Huw Watkins
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy

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Composer's Artistic Vision

Musicologist Hans Keller argued that Mendelssohn's achievements are underestimated because he resolved compositional problems so completely that listeners don't realize they existed.

Composition History

Both of Mendelssohn's cello sonatas and the Variations concertantes were primarily composed for his younger brother, Paul Mendelssohn, a cellist, to play.

Composition History

Mendelssohn composed the Lied ohne Worte, Op. 109, specifically for cello and piano for the cellist Lisa Cristiani to perform in a Gewandhaus chamber concert in October 1845.

Compositional Technique

Mendelssohn more or less originated the genre of Lieder ohne Worte (Songs without Words), which are collections of lyrical piano miniatures often with picturesque titles.

Composer Biography

Felix Mendelssohn's parents fostered his astonishing promise without exploiting it, and his siblings, including his sister Fanny (a composer) and younger brother Paul (a cellist), were also gifted.

Composition History

When Mendelssohn completed the Variations concertantes in 1829 at age nineteen, he had already composed masterpieces like the Octet and the Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Performer Biography

Paul Watkins, one of Britain's foremost cellists, has performed as a concerto soloist six times at the BBC Proms and is a member of the Nash Ensemble since 1997.