Olga Pashchenko - Hensel & Mendelssohn: Guess Who? - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Pianist Olga Pashchenko creates musical narratives with selections from Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words. As children, the two immensely prodigious siblings enjoyed using text to inspire their piano pieces, although which of them was the actual inventor of the genre remains a mystery. It is possible that they either co-created this genre, or even that Fanny could have been the creator of the genre traditionally ascribed exclusively to Felix. This music, although wordless, is bursting with poetry and well-suited to the Conrad Graf piano from 1836 that Pashchenko chose for this recording. The Graf piano, a brand favoured by Felix, has a recitative-like quality that Pashchenko uses to perfectly articulate the poetry inherent in these Lieder ohne Worte or as Fanny called them, Lieder fur das Pianoforte. Album Tracks 1. Lieder Ohne Worte, Op. 19B 3. Molto allegro e vivace, MWV U 89 2. Lieder Ohne Worte, Op. 19B 5. Piano agitato, MWV U 90 3. Lieder Ohne Worte, Op. 30~1. Andante espressivo, MWV U 103 4. Lieder Ohne Worte, Op. 30~2. Allegro di molto, MWV U 77 5. Lieder Ohne Worte, Op. 30~3. Adagio non troppo, MWV U 104 6. Lieder Ohne Worte, Op. 30~4. Agitato e con fuoco, MWV U 98 7. Lieder Ohne Worte, Op. 30~6. Venetianisches Gondellied. Allegretto tranquillo, MWV U 110 8. Vier Lieder Für Das Pianoforte, Op. 2 1. Andante H. 301 9. Vier Lieder Für Das Pianoforte, Op. 2 3. Villa Mills. Allegretto grazioso H. 357 10. Lieder ohne Worte, Op. 38 2. Allegro non troppo, MWV U 115 11. Gondellied, MWV U 136 12. Lieder ohne Worte, Op. 38 5. Agitato, MWV U 137 13. Lieder ohne Worte, Op. 62 3. Andante maestoso, MWV U 177 14. Lieder ohne Worte, Op. 62 5. Venetianisches Gondellied. Andante con moto, MWV U 151 15. Lieder ohne Worte, Op. 62 6. Allegretto grazioso, MWV U 161 16. Vier Lieder Für Das Pianoforte, Op. 6~2. Allegro vivac