Not Your Typical 14-year-old

Posted at 12:43 AM on May 5, 2010 by Ward Jacobson
Filed under: Programs

Felix Mendelssohn was 13 when he composed his first Piano Quartet. His second came a year later, and there's a noticeable change in the sound and feel of #2. Confidence. Maturity. Musically speaking, Mendelssohn was 14 going on 40, and the virtuoso dominance of the pianist over the string players stands out. The pianist's fingers fly around at high speed while the strings hunker down, offering more compact, less flamboyant bits.

Stay up late with Classical Minnesota Public radio tonight (12:05am, Thursday) for another exclusive Euro-Classic performance. The Mozart Piano Quartet performs Mendelssohn's Piano Quartet No. 2 in a concert recorded live last July during the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival in Northern Germany.