Mendelssohnorous
The Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E minor was my first-ever favorite piece of classical music. I used to listen to the 3rd mvmt. before lights-out time, jumping up and down on my bed to the bouncy bowings of Isaac Stern with the Ormandy-conducted Philadelphia Orchestra.
…Oh, yes, I *was* that awesome a seven-year-old!
And while I’ve more or less remained a seven-year-old, Mendelssohn has aged to his bicentennial. Rather than singing “Jolly Good Fellow” while jumping on the bed, the charismatic virtuoso violinist Anne-Sophie Mütter, beloved for her Beethoven recordings, is celebrating by playing the Concerto in E minor at Lincoln Center for four nights, including last night, through Saturday. Shockingly, tickets are not sold out for any of the nights, and they’re really pretty cheap — about $15. If you’ve never heard the concerto before, click the link on Anne-Sophie Mütter’s name, above, for an NYT article about her revival of his music. It has a pretty good little sound byte from her recording in the left margin, but, of course, you have to hear the whole thing to understand the bed-bouncing inspiration.
3 years ago