Mendelssohn Isata Kanneh-Mason, London Mozart Players & Jonathan Bloxham

• Felix Mendelssohn (1809 - 1847): Piano Concerto No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 25:
• 1 Mendelssohn: Piano Concerto No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 25: I. Molto allegro con fuoco 07:12
• 2 Mendelssohn: Piano Concerto No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 25: II. Andante 06:06
• 3 Mendelssohn: Piano Concerto No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 25: III. Presto – Molto allegro e vivace 06:39
• A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 61:
• 4 Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 61: I. Scherzo (Transcr. Rachmaninoff for Piano) 04:55
• 5 Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 61: VII. Nocturne (Transcr. Moszkowski for Piano) 04:09
• Franz Liszt (1811 - 1886): Mendelssohns Lieder, S. 547:
• 6 Liszt: Mendelssohns Lieder, S. 547: I. Auf Flügeln des Gesanges (After Op. 34/2) 03:59
• Felix Mendelssohn: Lieder ohne Worte VI, Op. 67:
• 7 Mendelssohn: Lieder ohne Worte VI, Op. 67: II. Allegro leggiero, MWV U145 "Lost Illusions" 02:10
• 8 Mendelssohn: Lieder ohne Worte VI, Op. 67: VI. Allegretto non troppo, MWV U188 "Cradle Song" 02:35
• Notturno in G Minor, H-U 337:
• 9 Mendelssohn: Notturno in G Minor, H-U 337 04:21
• Easter Sonata:
• 10 Mendelssohn: Easter Sonata: I. Allegro assai moderato 04:47
• 11 Mendelssohn: Easter Sonata: II. Largo e molto espresso – Poco più mosso 04:38
• 12 Mendelssohn: Easter Sonata: III. Scherzo. Allegretto 05:42
• 13 Mendelssohn: Easter Sonata: IV. Allegro con strepito 08:05
• Total Runtime 01:05:18

Info for Mendelssohn

"Mendelssohn" explores three facets of one of the most famous names in classical music: the glittering Piano Concerto No.1 by Felix with the London Mozart Players; the long-lost ‘Easter Sonata’ by his sister Fanny as well as transcriptions by other composers of Mendelssohn’s most famous music. In 2024, Isata featured in the critically acclaimed film ‘The Other Mendelssohn’, exploring the life of the exceptionally talented by overlooked Fanny Mendelssohn, later Fanny Hensel. In the film, they uncover the fact that the Easter Sonata, a piece lost for 150 years, was in fact written by Fanny, not Felix. Isata was the first artist to perform the work attributed to the correct composer. The album features this world premiere recording of the new urtext edition of Fanny Mendelssohn’s Easter Sonata. As well as beautiful solo piano transcriptions by Liszt (‘On Wings of Song’) and Rachmaninov (‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’), and two of Felix’s ‘Songs Without Words’ and Fanny’s ‘Nocturne’, also for solo piano.

Isata Kanneh-Mason, piano
London Mozart Players
Jonathan Bloxham, conductor

Isata Kanneh-Mason
A postgraduate student at London’s Royal Academy of Music, Isata Kanneh-Mason has embarked on a successful and increasingly busy concert career as a solo artist, with concerto appearances, solo recitals and chamber concerts throughout the UK and abroad. Isata also continues to perform with her siblings, including regular duo recitals with her brother, the cellist, Sheku Kanneh-Mason. Highlights this season include appearances at the Lucerne Festival, the Zurich Tonhalle, Wigmore Hall, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Saint-Denis Festival in Paris, and an extensive US tour, including their debut recital at New York’s Carnegie Hall. Isata has also performed in the Portland Piano Series in Oregon, the Barbican Centre’s Sound Unbound Series, The Color of Music Festival in South Carolina, in Amsterdam, the Caribbean, the Cayman Islands, and Canada.

Isata reached her category final in the 2014 BBC Young Musician competition, winning the Walter Todds Bursary for the most promising musician before the Grand Final. She has since performed several times on television and radio, including BBC Radio 3 In Tune, the Radio 3 RPS Awards, BBC2 Proms Extra, Radio 4 Woman’s Hour, Al Jazeera TV, BBC World Service, Channel 4, The One Show, ITV Born To Shine, BBC2 Classroom Heroes, and a feature for CBS’s Sunday Morning.

A highlight of 2019 will be the release in the summer of Isata’s first recording for Decca Classics, an album of Clara Schumann’s piano music in celebration of the 200th anniversary of the composer’s birth. At the centre of the album is the piano concerto, recorded with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and Holly Mathieson.

Having been awarded the Gwendolyn Reiche scholarship for postgraduate study, Isata continues to learn with Carole Presland at the Royal Academy of Music in London. She previously completed her undergraduate degree at the Academy as an Elton John scholar, and performed with Sir Elton in 2013 in Los Angeles.

Isata is grateful to Nottingham Soroptimist Trust, Mr and Mrs John Bryden, Frank White, Awards for Young Musicians, and Sir Elton John.

This album contains no booklet.