Mendelssohn: Lieder im Freien zu singen

Kammerchor Stuttgart, Frieder Bernius
65:00
Carus 83.287
opp. 41, 48, 59, 88 & 100

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his recording has filled me with joy since it arrived. Many years ago, my friends and I sang in a group we called The Legrenzi Consort and, after giving a few well-reviewed concerts in and around Dundee, we were invited to sing at the University’s Graduation Garden Party. Since we liked to explore relatively little-known repertoire, and being slightly disappointed that only a handful of people had turned out to hear us sing Monteverdi, I went looking for something different and chanced upon a volume of Mendelssohn’s partsongs in the St Andrews University Library. Now, we were just four singers having a lot of fun, but the fantastic voices of the Kammerchor Stuttgart under Frieder Bernius are quite another proposition, but I’d like to think that we shared at least one thing – a total love of the music. Singing this repertoire has become slightly old fashioned, but this new CD from Carus will hopefully convince choirs around the world to take up the cause. Mendelssohn writes fabulously well for voices; with the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin at his disposal, he had ample opportunity to hear his output performed, and it is reassuring to read in R. Larry Todd’s illuminating notes that these sets of songs were intended to for outdoor performance! I shall continue to enjoy listening to this excellent recording for a long time to come – each time I do, I feel a little happier than I did before.

Brian Clark