Fanny Hensel & Felix Mendelssohn: Arias, Lieder, Overtures

Contents

Mendelssohn: Infelice – concert aria for soprano and orchestra, Op. 94

Chen Reiss, Jewish Chamber Orchestra Munich, Daniel Großmann, Arabella Steinbacher

Mendelssohn, Fanny:

Die Mainacht, Op. 9 No. 6 (Text: Ludwig Hölty)

Gondellied Op. 1 No. 6 (Geibel)

Der Rosenkranz Op. 9 No. 3 (Voss)

Chen Reiss, Jewish Chamber Orchestra Munich, Daniel Großmann

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel: 12 Gesänge, Op. 8: No. 3, Italien

Chen Reiss, Jewish Chamber Orchestra Munich, Daniel Großmann

Mendelssohn, Fanny: Lobgesang ‘Meine Seele ist stille’ /Jewish Chamber Orchestra Munich, Daniel Großmann

I. Introduzione (Pastorale)

IV. Aria, O dass ich tausend Zungen hätte

Mendelssohn, Fanny:

Dämmrung senkte sich von oben (Text: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)

Warum sind denn die Rosen so blass, Op. 1 No. 3 (Text: Heinrich Heine)

Chen Reiss, Jewish Chamber Orchestra Munich, Daniel Großmann

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel: 12 Lieder, Op. 9: No. 10, Verlust

Chen Reiss, Jewish Chamber Orchestra Munich, Daniel Großmann

Mendelssohn, Fanny: Die frühen Gräber, Op. 9 No. 4 (Text: Friedrich Wilhelm Klopstock)

Chen Reiss, Jewish Chamber Orchestra Munich, Daniel Großmann

Mendelssohn: Hebrides Overture, Op. 26

Jewish Chamber Orchestra Munich, Daniel Großmann

Mendelssohn, Fanny: Hero & Leander

Chen Reiss, Jewish Chamber Orchestra Munich, Daniel Großmann

Soprano Chen Reiss writes: ‘Discovering the dramatic scene “Hero & Leander” by Fanny Hensel left me amazed by the richness of colours and invention, as well as her skilful orchestration and dramatic expression’.

Felix Mendelssohn’s sister Fanny is only now emerging as a significant composer in her own right. Many of her compositions were published under her brother’s name, such was the difficulty faced by female composers in the 19th century to get published and gain recognition. This album contains a selection of her Lieder in new arrangements for orchestra, her dramatic scene for soprano & orchestra ‘Hero und Leander’ set to a text by her father, and the Introduction and an aria from her cantata ‘Lobgesang’. Felix’s concert aria Infelice and the 1st Rome version of ‘Fingals Cave’.

the real discovery here is the cantata Hero & Leander, which rivals ‘Ozean du Ungeheuer’ from Weber’s Oberon for sea-spray-flecked drama. Reiss is fully equal to its considerable technical demands, her lightish soprano acquiring the necessary edge to cut through the hefty orchestration and cresting the numerous high Cs with apparent ease. — Katherine Cooper, Presto Music, March 2022