While the youthful string symphonies of Felix Mendelssohn may not be the best things he ever composed -- surely the Midsummer Night's Dream Overture, the Octet for Strings, the Violin Concerto in E minor, and the Italian and Scotch Symphonies have that honor -- one could certainly make the case that Mendelssohn never really got much better as a composer than he was in the string symphonies. The effortlessness and eloquence of his technique, the lightness and lyricism of his melodies, the brightness and brilliance of his scoring, and above all the sheer vivacious charm of the music makes the case that, had Mendelssohn never lived past 15, he could still be counted a great composer.
At any rate, that is the argument one could make after listening to
Roy Goodman and the
Hanover Band's terrific recording of Mendelssohn's string symphonies. The fact that the
Hanover Band is a period instrument ensemble matters as little as the fact that
Goodman was a boy soprano: their playing is sprightly and infectious and his conducting is joyous and delightful.
Goodman does not attempt to dampen and thus distort Mendelssohn's music with a pose of faux gravitas as
Kurt Masur had in his recording of the string symphonies, but rather lets Mendelssohn romp and roar with youthful energy and enthusiasm, and the result is a pure pleasure in music-making. RCA's digital sound is real and vivid.