MENDELSSOHN Variations concertantes

Portrait of Mendelssohn by the English miniaturist James Warren Childe (1778–1862), 1839

The Variations concertantes were written in 1829, when the composer was twenty. Their theme is one of those sweet, almost annoyingly simple melodies which represent the ‘homey’ side of Mendelssohn. It is followed by eight variations which show the influence of both Mozart’s and Beethoven’s sets of variations, but whose final number bursts out of its frame in a sudden display of Romantic fervour.

 

VIDEO: Anne Richardson, cello Luis Ortiz, piano May 16, 2015