After a long absence from the site – I’m back! I want to share with you this wonderful piece by Mendelssohn which I heard for the first time a few days ago. It was played on the radio station where I present a classical program. The other fellow who does a Classical Music program played it on his show. I immediately went shopping to find it! The same recording he played: (Deutsche Grammophon) With Martha Argerich on piano and Gidon Kremer on violin. Fantastic piece of music.
Hans (the other presenter) introduced the piece saying that Mendelssohn wrote it when he was 14; and that when he presented it to his teacher, the teacher made a remark along the lines of now Felix could join the ranks of Mozart and other greats. It’s really hard to imagine the emotional depth shown in the second movement coming from a 14 years old! (actually he may have been 13 if the Wikipedia article is correct)
Here is the Wikipedia article about the piece.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concerto_for_Violin_and_Strings_%28Mendelssohn%29
Here are the three movements from Felix Mendelssohn’s Concerto for Violin, Piano and String Orchestra in D minor