Mendelssohn: Violin Sonatas Shlomo Mintz & Roberto Prosseda

• Felix Mendelssohn (1809 - 1847): Violin Sonata in F Major, MWV Q7
• 1 Felix Mendelssohn: Violin Sonata in F Major, MWV Q7: I. Allegro 06:16
• 2 Felix Mendelssohn: Violin Sonata in F Major, MWV Q7: II. Andante 06:12
• 3 Felix Mendelssohn: Violin Sonata in F Major, MWV Q7: III. Presto 04:37
• Violin Sonata in F Minor, Op.4, MWV Q12:
• 4 Felix Mendelssohn: Violin Sonata in F Minor, Op.4, MWV Q12: I. Adagio. Allegro moderato 10:10
• 5 Felix Mendelssohn: Violin Sonata in F Minor, Op.4, MWV Q12: II. Poco Adagio 07:25
• 6 Felix Mendelssohn: Violin Sonata in F Minor, Op.4, MWV Q12: III. Allegro agitato 05:28
• Violin Sonata in F Major, MWV Q26
• 7 Felix Mendelssohn: Violin Sonata in F Major, MWV Q26: I. Allegro vivace 12:49
• 8 Felix Mendelssohn: Violin Sonata in F Major, MWV Q26: II. Adagio 08:31
• 9 Felix Mendelssohn: Violin Sonata in F Major, MWV Q26: III. Assai vivace 06:53
• Total Runtime 01:08:21

Info for Mendelssohn: Violin Sonatas

Mendelssohn's F minor Violin Sonata bears the influence of Beethoven and Mozart, and this is perhaps what one would expect of a composer in his early teens writing during the 1820s. But the sonata is a great deal more than a derivative apprentice piece: in fact it shows the young Mendelssohn composing with an astonishing boldness and maturity. The influences are there, and no attempt is made to conceal them, but they are absorbed and translated into a style which has a distinct personality of its own. Mintz and Ostrovsky clearly have much respect for its character and substance, and theirs is a strong, serious approach. Indeed, their performance seems to me quite outstanding, for not only does Mintz play with the most beautiful quality of tone and an immaculate technique, but his sensitivity and artistry illuminate the music to great effect, while Ostrovsky's contribution is equally distinguished.

Similar qualities of performance inform the later F major Sonata, written when Mendelssohn was a mature young man of some 29 summers. This sonata lay in unpublished obscurity until 1953, when Sir Yehudi Menuhin edited the work, recorded it on LP for EMI, and caused it to be published. Here, Mendelssohn's mature style is of course evident, yet the listener may perhaps feel that the composer's fires of inspiration burned a little less brightly than they had 15 years earlier. Yet it's an enjoyable work, and good to have in such a high-class interpretation as this. The recording quality is outstandingly warm and natural. (Gramophone)

Shlomo Mintz, violin
Paul Ostrovsky, piano

Digitally remastered

Shlomo Mintz
is considered by colleagues, audiences, and critics one of the foremost violinists of our time, esteemed for his impeccable musicianship, stylistic versatility, and commanding technique. He has long been acclaimed as a celebrated guest artist with many of the great orchestras and conductors on the international stage and continues to enchant audiences with his playing.

Awarded with many prestigious international prizes including the Premio Internazionale Accademia Musicale Chigiana, the Diapason D’Or, the Grand Prix du Disque, the Gramophone Award, the Edison Award and the Cremona Music Award, in 2006 he received an Honorary Degree from the Ben-Gurion University in Beersheba (Israel).

Born in Moscow and immigrated when he was 2 to Israel, he studied with Ilona Feher who introduced Mintz to Isaac Stern becoming this his mentor. He was also a student of Dorothy DeLay in New York.

On stage from an early age and along his career, he has collaborated with such a famous artists like Isaac Stern, Mstislav Rostropovich, Zukerman, Itzhak Perlman, Zubin Mehta, Claudio Abbado, Carlo Maria Giulini, Riccardo Muti, Yuri Temirkanov, Ida Haendel and Ivry Gitlis, among many others, and played with the best orchestras in the world as the Berlin, Vienna, Concertgebouw, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and New York Philharmonic

At 18 years old, Mintz launched a parallel career as a conductor, and has since led acclaimed orchestras worldwide including the Royal Philharmonic (United Kingdom), the NHK Symphony (Japan), and the Israel Philharmonic. ​

He was one of the founders of the Keshet Eilon International Violin Mastercourse in Israel, an advanced-level summer program for young talented violinists from all around the world in Kibbutz Eilon, Israel, and served as a patron there for eighteen years (1992-2010) and is one of the main actors/co-founder of the "Violins of Hope" project: forty-five violins whose owners lost their lives in ghettos and concentration camps during World War II, restored and displayed internationally. The Violins of Hope were presented in a special event in Jerusalem for the sixtieth-anniversary celebration of the State of Israel.

To celebrate Mintz’s 60th birthday, Deutsche Grammophon has re-released his recordings as a 13-CD edition that includes the legendary recordings of the Mendelssohn, Prokofiev, Sibelius, Lalo, and Vieuxtemps violin concertos with great orchestras and conductors. Recently, Mintz added composing to his talents as violinist, violist, and conductor: his Anthem to an Unknown Nation was premiered in June 2017 at the Vigadó Grand Hall, Budapest, and his Sonatina for violin and piano premiered in Domodossola and Istanbul in October 2017.

Regularly invited by the most prestigious international competitions, Mintz has served as a jury member of the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, the Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition in Brussels and the International Henryk Wieniawski Competition in Poznań, Poland. He was also invited to be jury president of the Munetsugu Angel Violin Competition in Japan, for several years. From 2002 to 2011, he was jury president of the Sion Valais-International Violin Competition in Switzerland and from 2012 to 2018, the Artistic Director of Crans-Montana Classics, a high-level violin Mastercourse and Festival, also in Switzerland. ​

Currently, he is the Mentor and President of the Jury of the International Violin Competition Buenos Aires in Argentina, President of Jury and Artistic Director of Tucuman (Argentina) Festival and National Violin Competition, as well as the president of the Ilona Fehér Budapest Violin Competition in Hungary. ​

In 2019, with the label DECCA, he released the Ysaÿe Six Violin Sonatas Op. 27 and another CD with the Mendelssohn Concertos.

This album contains no booklet.