Customer Reviews

Felix Mendelssohn: Works for Clarinet, Basset Horn & Piano - Alan Hacker / Lesley Schatzberger / Richard Burnett

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The tiny English record label Amon Ra specializes in recording historical instruments, very often from the collection at the museum in Finchcocks in Kent, where pianist Richard Burnett has built up a considerable collection of fully-playable keyboard instruments. On the current Mendelssohn CD, Burnett himself plays six of Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words, his Rondo Capriccioso Opus 14 and his 17 Variations Sérieuses Opus 54 on a Graf Fortepiano built in 1826 in Vienna and a British Broadwood Pianoforte built in 1823. The sound is amazing, the instruments sounding a lot more modern than I had anticipated from some other fortepiano recitals that I have heard, although of course there are all the usual thumping noises etc that one associates with historical instruments of this category. Burnett explains his choices of instrument in the short but informative notes provided.

Mendelssohn's youthful E flat Sonata for Clarinet and Fortepiano is performed beautifully by Alan Hacker using a Bilton boxwood clarinet from the first part of the 19th century and Burnett on the Graf fortepiano. The two relatively short Konzertstücke for clarinet, basset horn and fortepiano are performed on different instruments: On the first, Alan Hacker plays a late 19th century Albert cocus wood instrument, Lesley Schatzberger a small-bore basset horn by Selmer and Richard Burnett an Erard Pianoforte made in London in 1866. The second Konzertstück is played on slightly earlier instruments.

A wonderful "museum" recording with some lovely harmonies, some delightful piano playing and some living music outside the general run-of-the-mill pattern. New aspects of Mendelssohn, new insights into the history of instrument-making.

I agree with everything Leslie Richford says in his well-written critique of this outstanding recording. Richard Burnett is a period keyboardist specializing in repertory that extends from the Classical to the Romantic eras. He has recorded the Mozart piano quartets and several Mozart piano concertos accompanied by string quartets on historic keyboards. He has also recorded a spate of Romantic era music including the Robert Schumann piano quintet & piano quartet and Schubert's Winterreise, among others. Burnett owns the instruments he plays, all part of his personal collection.

In this Mendelssohn recording, Burnett plays an 1866 Erard pianoforte and a Graf pianoforte from 1826. What you may be most surprised to hear is the level of his artistry on these instruments. If you compare his version of Mendelssohn's Rondo Capriciosso, Variations Serieuses and Song Without Words to the legendary collection from Murray Perahia, you'll find his artistry every bit that of Perahia's, who has the advantage of playing a modern concert grand piano with a steel harp and powerful sustaining characteristics. The pianoforte, with its wooden harp and limited sustaining ability, is hardly a match for today's pianos. Yet Burnett does equal justice to Mendelssohn's melodic masterpieces using ancient instruments.

But the high art interpretation does not end with Burnett's outstanding playing. Alan Hacker plays a period clarinet that is the equal of Charles Neidich and fairs well with other Mendelssohn groupings including the complete clarinet chamber music collection from Carl Baermann and Consortium Classicum under Dieter Klocker. With an excellent 1989 recording from Burnett's home in Finchcocks, Goudhurst, Kent, this is a recording that realizes the potential of Mendelssohn's gift in chamber music for woodwinds and keyboard in a way more special than most competitors, making it far more than a collection of parlor music or museum pieces. It is exceptionally well-played, very entertaining, and life-affirming.