I have to think Mendelssohn got a sales bump in 1979 when the sleeper hit film, Breaking Away, used ample bits of the Italian Symphony in it. It was effectively used for the bike races.
Thank your for repeatedly making the case for Mendelssohn's wonderful works! I love these symphonies 🎶 because of this, I am particularly looking forward to seeing and hearing your videos about the Mendelssohn cycle programs
It is a puzzle to me that even today Mendelssohn is not sometime rated as highly as he should be. The Scottish has always been one of my 'Favs', and great music on any standard You must certainly be right why today's conductors shy away/or are not equipped to play him well. Wagner's critical enmity and jealousy toward him was certainly a big part of his denigration as simply facile and shallow, but even so great a critic as Ernest Newman put him on the '2nd rank of great composers'! ( I know; rankings!) So glad you highlight him and do a bit to restore the balance for all us, especially the beginners now and in 500 years....
Yes yes yes, absolutely love Bernstein/Israel in these! Speaking of Israel/Mendelssohn, I heard Dudamel do the "Italian" with the Israel on tour a few years ago, and I must say, it was absolutely splendid. So if Mendelssohn appears to have fallen out of favor, happily there are still those who still carry the torch!
Good video Dave, id add that Bernstein recorded a fantastic mendelssohn violin concerto on Sony with the new Yorkers. Romantic, passionate and non of that light fluffy music making that some apply to the concerto!
Bernstein was supposedly having all his late concerts videotaped/filmed. Were these Mendelssohn works recorded? If yes, will they ever come out on DVD?
You are absolutely right about Mendelssohn being overlooked in favor of Mahler and Bruckner! I think Schumann and to a lesser extent Schubert suffer the same fate. Beethoven escapes the trap because he's Beethoven, and Brahms is not in danger as he's monolithic enough to be considered in the same Mahler/Bruckner pantheon. I still love the Peter Maag/LSO Scottish for his romantic approach, and also his Italian with the Bern Symphony, and your mate Mackerras's Italian with OAE on Virgin is also a standout, although HIP!
By all means, please do a Mendelssohn cycle in the 'fabulous concert programs' series...and throwing in some of the better String Symphonies, is a great idea...I would love a survey of all 12/13 of them!
Towards the end of his life, Bernstein scheduled some concerts (and no doubt recordings) with the NY Phil, one was the Mahler Eighth, the other was Mendelssohn's 'Elijah'. Alas, Bernstein's health crumbled, all his conducting plans were cancelled, and he died soon afterwards. But I think it sounds like he considered 'Elijah' just as "important" a work as the Mahler
@@DavesClassicalGuide I'm sorry Dave, i guess i didn't state that correctly. I don't mean that Mahler's Eighth and Elijah are equal. Both works have their supporters and detractors. But in the musical world of 1990, Mahler was big box office, Mendelssohn,......maybe not so much. Bernstein, at the end of his life and not in good health, was concentrating on "big" works that he felt connected to, and often had a history of performing and recording before. The Mahler Eighth would finish his second Mahler symphony cycle, very likely in a blaze of glory. But he also wanted to spend considerable time and effort (and organization/company expense) on a work (as far as I know) he had not recorded before, and i don't know if he had even performed it live before. Which is a convoluted way of saying in his final days Lenny was thinking of and looking forward t performing Mendelssohn, because as you said he was a great conductor of M. (and M.)
@@DavesClassicalGuide True, true....,but I like speculating about a Bernstein 'Elijah'. And speaking of Elijah, I hope you someday create a discussion of the preferred recordings of Elijah, a work I like very much but have yet to purchase, and I greatly appreciate & value your opinion
I do agree that these are lovely performances but like you said the sound is really dry. Blomstedt's Decca recording does have the the advantage of a really good recording and to my ears the performance is on a par.
My main complaint about the Italian is it's played too slowly, especially the 3rd mvt, which typically drags in most renditions. This piece is about motion, and needs to move.
I have to think Mendelssohn got a sales bump in 1979 when the sleeper hit film, Breaking Away, used ample bits of the Italian Symphony in it. It was effectively used for the bike races.
Great movie, introduced it to me.
Don't think i could ever choose between this and the Blomstedt/SF pairing of these symphonies. Both are magnificent.
Yes, they both are!
The Blomstedt takes it imo. Bernstein drags in the finale before switching gears at the end versus Blomstedt’s consistent pace throughout.
Thank your for repeatedly making the case for Mendelssohn's wonderful works! I love these symphonies 🎶 because of this, I am particularly looking forward to seeing and hearing your videos about the Mendelssohn cycle programs
It is a puzzle to me that even today Mendelssohn is not sometime rated as highly as he should be. The Scottish has always been one of my 'Favs', and great music on any standard You must certainly be right why today's conductors shy away/or are not equipped to play him well. Wagner's critical enmity and jealousy toward him was certainly a big part of his denigration as simply facile and shallow, but even so great a critic as Ernest Newman put him on the '2nd rank of great composers'! ( I know; rankings!) So glad you highlight him and do a bit to restore the balance for all us, especially the beginners now and in 500 years....
The Scotch symphony 3rd mvt is a masterpiece I think. When the funeral march suddenly comes out of nowhere, that's genius.
Yes yes yes, absolutely love Bernstein/Israel in these!
Speaking of Israel/Mendelssohn, I heard Dudamel do the "Italian" with the Israel on tour a few years ago, and I must say, it was absolutely splendid. So if Mendelssohn appears to have fallen out of favor, happily there are still those who still carry the torch!
Good video Dave, id add that Bernstein recorded a fantastic mendelssohn violin concerto on Sony with the new Yorkers. Romantic, passionate and non of that light fluffy music making that some apply to the concerto!
Bernstein was supposedly having all his late concerts videotaped/filmed. Were these Mendelssohn works recorded? If yes, will they ever come out on DVD?
You are absolutely right about Mendelssohn being overlooked in favor of Mahler and Bruckner!
I think Schumann and to a lesser extent Schubert suffer the same fate. Beethoven escapes the trap because he's Beethoven, and Brahms is not in danger as he's monolithic enough to be considered in the same Mahler/Bruckner pantheon. I still love the Peter Maag/LSO Scottish for his romantic approach, and also his Italian with the Bern Symphony, and your mate Mackerras's Italian with OAE on Virgin is also a standout, although HIP!
By all means, please do a Mendelssohn cycle in the 'fabulous concert programs' series...and throwing in some of the better String Symphonies, is a great idea...I would love a survey of all 12/13 of them!
Towards the end of his life, Bernstein scheduled some concerts (and no doubt recordings) with the NY Phil, one was the Mahler Eighth, the other was Mendelssohn's 'Elijah'. Alas, Bernstein's health crumbled, all his conducting plans were cancelled, and he died soon afterwards. But I think it sounds like he considered 'Elijah' just as "important" a work as the Mahler
I wouldn't draw that conclusion at all.
i believe a complete PETER GRIMES was on the scheduling board as well....as for the cast? who knows?
@@DavesClassicalGuide I'm sorry Dave, i guess i didn't state that correctly. I don't mean that Mahler's Eighth and Elijah are equal. Both works have their supporters and detractors. But in the musical world of 1990, Mahler was big box office, Mendelssohn,......maybe not so much. Bernstein, at the end of his life and not in good health, was concentrating on "big" works that he felt connected to, and often had a history of performing and recording before. The Mahler Eighth would finish his second Mahler symphony cycle, very likely in a blaze of glory. But he also wanted to spend considerable time and effort (and organization/company expense) on a work (as far as I know) he had not recorded before, and i don't know if he had even performed it live before. Which is a convoluted way of saying in his final days Lenny was thinking of and looking forward t performing Mendelssohn, because as you said he was a great conductor of M. (and M.)
And as I said, this is all just speculation, nothing more.
@@DavesClassicalGuide True, true....,but I like speculating about a Bernstein 'Elijah'. And speaking of Elijah, I hope you someday create a discussion of the preferred recordings of Elijah, a work I like very much but have yet to purchase, and I greatly appreciate & value your opinion
It was recorded in Munich, August 1979.
OK. It's still dry.
The coupling is available at Presto.
I do agree that these are lovely performances but like you said the sound is really dry. Blomstedt's Decca recording does have the the advantage of a really good recording and to my ears the performance is on a par.
My main complaint about the Italian is it's played too slowly, especially the 3rd mvt, which typically drags in most renditions. This piece is about motion, and needs to move.