Harmonia Mundi
1993
Mendelssohn: Piano Music
About This Album
The sonatas on this disc are not generally considered Mendelssohn's best writing for the piano. After all, he was still a teenager when these were written. However, the way Frederic Chiu plays them, you realize these are not necessarily trifles in Mendelssohn's catalog. Chiu handles them with the consideration and diligence that most pianists give to a Beethoven sonata. The range of his tone colors and the way he applies them is remarkable. He moves from a light touch in the second movement of the Sonata in E major, which brings out its similarities with the Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream, to a much stronger one in the sonata's final movement, which has both Haydn-esque and Beethoven-esque moments. The Scherzo of the Sonata in B flat is even more obviously similar to A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Chiu gives it just the right amount of gentle, twinkling playfulness. In the following, more serious-minded Andante, you can hear that although he was trying to emulate the Adagio of Beethoven's Hammerklavier Sonata, Mendelssohn's more easygoing personality would not let him attain the same profoundness. Chiu shows that a performance can be well-informed, yet not be dryly academic. It really is a treat to hear these works given such attention and care. ~ Patsy Morita, All Music Guide
Track List

Piano Sonata In E Major, Op. 6
1.
2.
3.
4.
Piano Sonata In G Minor, Op. 105
5.
6.
7.
Piano Sonata In B Flat Major, Op. 106
8.
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10.
11.
Rondo Capriccioso, For Piano In E Major, Op. 14
12.