Credits:

Arnold Schoenberg

Description:

The "Second Collection of Mendelssohn's Complete Symphonies" by the Chamber Orchestra of Ireland and Wittmann is a disc that combines works by Mozart and Wittmann himself, with the Symphony No. 5 "Reformation" as the main work. The theme of the album is "revised works from his youth." Symphony No. 5 is the work of a 21-year-old Mendelssohn, and is actually his "second" symphony, composed after No. 1. The motive for its composition was to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the "Augsburg Confession of Faith," which is used in Lutheran churches, and it is a solemn work that uses Luther's chorale "God is My Hut" and the German hymn "Dresden Amen" in the piece. However, for various reasons, it was never performed at ceremonies, and Mendelssohn himself was dissatisfied with the quality of the work, so it underwent a complicated process of revision several times. Because of the delay in publication, it is now numbered as "No. 5" (the last symphony).The coupling, Mozart's "Adagio and Fugue," is a fugue K426 originally composed at the age of 17 and arranged for string ensemble in 1788, with the addition of an adagio as a prelude. Wittmann's "Attempt at a Fugue" is also a revised and expanded version of his own String Quartet No. 5 (with soprano), in the classical fugue tradition. The movement from Mendelssohn's Clarinet Sonata placed at the end shows Wittmann's respect for Mendelssohn by orchestrating the piano part. Naxos Japan