Alexandra Dovgan - Felix Mendelssohn, Concerto for Piano No.1 in G Minor,

A newer version! Please support her channel: @dovgan_alexandra/ About the music: The concerto’s three movements run without a break, each being separated from the other by means of a trumpet fanfare. After the briefest of orchestral introductions, but one not devoid of a certain drama, the piano bursts in and the first movement continues in tempestuous mood for a while until the piano introduces a more graceful idea. When the orchestra plays this new theme the piano flutters around happily, and throughout the movement the piano and orchestra indulge in a kind of non-combative dialogue, never competing with each other for dominance, but sharing the good ideas in equal measure. Among Mendelssohn’s best-loved piano pieces are several sets of “Songs Without Words”, and much of the charming, song-like character of those pieces is found in the lyrical second movement, based on an enchanting theme initially announced by the lower strings. Mendelssohn’s best music is often characterised by a lightness of mood and an almost bubbly texture, typified by this concerto’s tuneful, energetic, and disarmingly innocent third movement. At the age of 22, when he wrote this work, Mendelssohn was well into his maturity as a composer, but his musical ideas were still infectiously youthful.