Mendelssohn

Lieder ohne Worte (arr. for violin and piano by Ferdinand David)

Michael Barenboim (violin), Natalia Pegarkova-barenboim (piano)

Linn CKD696 79:00 mins

Ferdinand David (1810-1873) was the leader of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra when Felix Mendelssohn was its director. The two were good friends, and it was for David that Mendelssohn wrote his Violin Concerto in E minor. Not surprising, then, that David also saw the potential for arranging some of the Lieder ohne Worte (Songs Without Words) for violin and piano. While the originals are designed for piano solo, they chiefly rely on melody plus accompaniment, suiting them to such transcription, and they were so popular that there would have been a strong market for the sheet music. David’s treatment of them is respectful and straightforward.

Exceptionally fine pianists often succeed with a whole disc of the originals, but in this attentive and thoughtful performance by Michael Barenboim (son of Daniel) and his pianist partner Natalia Pegarkovabarenboim, the arrangement seems to limit the musical expression rather than freeing it. One of Mendelssohn’s more famous statements was that music is more precise than words. Unlimited by available vocabulary, it can capture shades of emotions for which the terms do not really exist. That implied variety and nuance does not quite come across in these readings as strongly as it might.

Perhaps Barenboim’s style is being limited by notions of what is appropriate to the 1830s-40s; there’s some over-reliance on portamento and lightness of tone that does not always admit the wealth of character available to instrument and music alike. A contrast with Josef Gingold’s molten-gold eloquence in Fritz Kreisler’s version of Op. 62 No. 1, though pertinent, would maybe seem unfair. Still, Barenboim is well partnered by Pegarkovabarenboim, making a seamless and affectionate duo, and the recording sound quality is generally very good. Jessica Duchen

PERFORMANCE

RECORDING