Mendelssohn: String Symphonies No.1-No.13:Roy Goodman(cond)/Hanover Band

永らく輸入盤が廃盤となっていたグッドマンのメンデルスゾーン集が、復活。古楽器使用による全曲盤。グッドマン（彼はバロック・ヴァイオリン奏者でもあった）による古楽弦楽器に精通した独特な解釈と、イギリス古楽軍団の安定した美しい弦楽に酔う盤です。何よりもハノーヴァー・バンドが快調。シューマンの交響曲全集には発見があったし、ロッシーニの序曲集も相当面白かったですが、やはりこのメンデルスゾーン。富裕な家庭で最高の教育を受けていた10歳代のメンデルスゾーン少年は、18世紀の作曲技能を訓練されており、伸びやかでシャープな音楽が正に天才。曲ごとに充実度の度合いも増し、輝かしき喜びが横溢。様々な新録音が登場している作品集だけに、今回の廉価シリーズ化が嬉しい。1992～1993年の録音。

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.