Heaven and Earth
Piano Trios
in D minor & C minor
by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy

Classical moderation and Romantic sensitivity are the signatures for the music of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. Not, however, in an anachronistic, but in a progressive sense of the word, even transgressing boundaries: “Nobody can forbid me to take pleasure in this and to continue working on the legacy left to me by the great masters. After all, it is not the idea that each person has to start afresh from the beginning; however, the work should also carry on from where it left off in accordance with one’s creative powers, and not be solely an unimaginative repetition of what has been”, thus did he formulate his self-confident, aesthetic concept. And correspondingly, as most of his contemporaries including Franz Liszt agreed, he thus became one of the “most outstanding German composers” of the early 19th century.

A comprehensive education was part of the family tradition as laid down by Felix’ grandfather, Moses Mendelssohn, the eminent Jewish philosopher of the Age of Enlightenment. For that reason, Felix Mendelssohn was able to hone his skills as a composer in the prosperous family home, in which comfortable respectability, extensive cultural interests and strict work discipline were the order of the day. He was born in Hamburg in 1809, son of the banker Abraham Mendelssohn and his wife Lea, and grew up in Berlin from 1811 onwards. While still a child, he became well acquainted with the intellectual elite of his time. His music teacher, Carl Friedrich Zelter, principal of the Berlin Singakademie, introduced the 12-year-old Felix to Johann Wolfgang Goethe and, in 1825, the prominent composer Luigi Cherubini managed to convince Felix’s doubtful father of his son’s extraordinary musical talent. In order to consolidate the acceptance of his civil status in Germany, Abraham Mendelssohn had converted to Christianity, confirmed his integration with the additional name Bartholdy, and had his son Felix baptized a Protestant. Thus the course was set for a career as composer and conductor.

On this intellectual foundation, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy expanded and renovated the aesthetic structure of the classical music culture, by adding his own forms such as the concert-overture to William Shakespeare’s Midsummer night’s dream or original genres such as the Octet for Strings. Besides, his reading of world literature strongly influenced his work, which is the reason why his oeuvre is dominated by a lyrical-epic style. “He was the first musician to actually make music right in front of the ‘fine society’ – in the good sense of the word. He was not a gruff, hermit-like German citizen, such as Bach, but an educated and versatile man, with easy social skills, prosperous and civilized, who was known throughout almost the whole of Germany, and whose company was sought in all select circles”, thus wrote the author Wilhelm Heinrich Riehl in 1850. Admittedly, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy was spectacularly successful in the international circles, especially in London, where “flattery was heaped upon him by the aristocracy”: nevertheless, he continued to concentrate on Germany despite many cultural journeys and concert engagements in Europe. His appointment as director of the Gewandhaus concerts in Leipzig in 1835 was extremely welcome, as “I have now gained a firm foothold in Germany, and will no longer need to spend half my life travelling abroad.” Just as his manner of composition was based on historical continuity, likewise he designed unconventional concert cycles as Kapellmeister, during which the Leipzig audiences were able to experience classical music as it developed: “The artless among them were able to learn, the bright ones smiled: in short, the backwards step into the past may well have been a step forward”, thus wrote his colleague and friend Robert Schumann, happily.

While consolidating his professional situation, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy was also able to find happiness in his private life: in 1837, he married Cécile, the eldest daughter of the widow Jeanrenaud, in Frankfurt am Main. Although his father had died just two years previously, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy was now able to revel “comfortably” in his family, and felt “so peacefully happy, as never before since leaving the family home. I am convinced that I should either take this position (in Leipzig) or none at all.”

With reference to these biographical events, death and love may well have been the subject for the Piano Trio in D minor, Op. 49, as this work dating from 1839 simply pulsates with a yearning for a harmony of feelings as in heaven. In a double perspective: i.e. as almost paradisaical joy in the lyrical theme of the Molto allegro agitato, with the virtuoso piano part, and as consolation in the dialogue-like elegy between the violin and cello in the Andante. With lively dance-like gestures, the Scherzo then leads into a rhythmically striking Rondo-Finale. A vague ambivalence is present here, which also shows itself in the division of roles between the piano part – which draws attention to itself – and the frequently discreet strings. The four-movement sonata form refers to models developed by Ludwig van Beethoven for his piano trios. And on top of that, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy clearly observed the trends of his times with regard to chamber music, without neglecting the Classical style. He himself played the piano part during the première on February 1, 1840 in Leipzig, whereas the violin part was played by the leader of the Gewandhaus Orchestra, Ferdinand David, and the cellist was Carl Wittmann. Robert Schumann pronounced this composition “the master trio of contemporary music”, an assessment which remains valid to this day, as the work has retained its popularity.

Although the carefree happiness within his family – the Mendelssohn Bartholdy’s had five children – concealed the grief he felt at the death of his father, the demise of his mother in 1843 and perhaps also the discovery of a deterioration in his own health left clear traces in the composer’s works. Scepticism is the mood of the Piano Trio in C minor: Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy wrote this in 1844 / 45 and performed the work in Leipzig that year on December 20, with the same musicians with whom he had given the première of the Piano Trio in D minor. The chromatic lines and dark sound-toning of the theme in the Allegro energico e con fuoco reflects a crisis, which nevertheless regains its balance. The Andante espressivo could well be meant as a farewell song, not full of despair, but tinted in various different timbres by means of organically circulating motifs. The Scherzo has an almost hasty poetic style, which does not find tranquillity and moderation until the hymnic Allegro appassionato, in which Bach’s Chorale “Herr Gott, Dich fürchten wir alle” can be recognized. The work, dedicated to Louis Spohr, returns the emotions earthwards, binds them into a dense fabric of equally important voices. Here, aesthetic harmony has become a compact unity. Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy died on November 4, 1847 after suffering a stroke.

Daniel Müller-Schott
“A great cellist, like a great tenor, should sound like no-one else. I bring Pablo Casals and Mstislav Rostropovich up in order to suggest that young Daniel Müller-Schott may soon be in their league.” Octavio Roca, The Miami Herald

In only a few years, Daniel Müller-Schott has succeeded in establishing himself throughout the world as one of the supreme cellists. With his sure sense of style and enormous musical maturity, he opens up new paths for his audiences, including ones leading to works already thought to be well-known. He is constantly searching for both new and rare old works with which he can extend his repertoire on the cello, including with his own adaptations, and in particular performances of the music of the 20th and 21st centuries.

As a soloist, Daniel Müller-Schott works with such renowned conductors as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Charles Dutoit, Christoph Eschenbach, Michael Gielen, Hartmut Haenchen, Marek Janowski, Armin Jordan, James Judd, Yakov Kreizberg, Kurt Masur and Sir André Previn. His concerts are with orchestras such as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Hamburg NDR Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre National de France, the Israel Symphony Orchestra, the Nederlands Philharmonisch Orkest, the Warsaw National Philharmonia, the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra Moscow, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and the Philharmonia Orchestra London.
In 2006 Daniel Müller-Schott will be making guest appearances as a soloist in many European countries as well as in the United States, Canada and South-East Asia. In August 2006, Daniel Müller-Schott will be making his first appearance at the Salzburger Festspiele with an evening of chamber music.
Recitals, solo evenings and trio concerts will also be taking him to the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, the Musikhalle Hamburg, the Philharmonie München, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and the Tonhalle Zürich. In addition to Anne-Sophie Mutter und Sir André Previn, his chamber music partners include Vadim Repin, Lars Vogt, Steven Isserlis, Robert Kulek, Julia Fischer, Olli Mustonen, Christian Tetzlaff and Jean-Yves Thibaudet.

Daniel Müller-Schott studied under Walter Nothas, Heinrich Schiff and Steven Isserlis. He benefited from the personal sponsorship and support of Anne-Sophie Mutter as the holder of a scholarship from her Foundation. At the age of 15 he won international acclaiming by taking first prize at Moscow’s International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians.
Daniel Müller-Schott plays a Matteo Goffriller cello, made in Venice in 1700. The 29-year-old musician lives in Munich, his home-town. In his spare time he is an enthusiastic jogger and badminton player. He is very interested in art, and feels a strong affinity with 19th century French painters; it is the way they treat colours and light which constantly fascinates and inspires him.

Daniel Müller-Schott website

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“To add to the pleasures of the disc, the warm sound –as usual with PentaTone- is exceptional; indeed, in surround mode, it gives as truthful a sense of a piano trio as any recording I know. All in all a remarkable release”.
Peter J. Rabinowitz, International Record Review

GRAMOPHONE – Editor’s choice. Here’s a starry line-up who really know how to play chamber music. “There is something awfully exciting about seeing, or rather hearing, three leading talents of the younger generation joining forces…. An urgent, questing disc.
---James Inverne, Gramophone

“This new recording is irresistible, with the three players caught in a wholly natural ambience. It’s always a good sign when you don’t want to stop playing a disc long enough to write about it.”
--Harriet Smith, Gramophone

“Pentatone has another winner in this issue of Mendelssohn's two piano trios. Their star violinist Julia Fischer is joined by two other major young artists, pianist Jonathan Gilad, and cellist Daniel Müller-Schott in vivid performances of these delightful Mendelssohn works. Wolf Werth and Job Maarse produced this recording which was made in a radio studio in Cologne in February 2006. Excellent sound, with the performers in front, ambient sound from the rear.
---Robert Benson,classicalcdreview.com

“Julia Fischer’s violin lines, though hard-driven in the outer movements, also convey warmth and shapeliness in the music’s quietly intense passages: the almost prayerful slow movements, for example, or parts of the C minor Trio’s finale. Daniel Müller-Schott’s cello playing matches those extremes and adds an engaging lugubriousness when Mendelssohn seems to invite it, as in the opening bars of the D minor Trio. And Jonathan Gilad’s piano, woven beautifully into the texture, has a bright sparkle of a sort that other recordings of these works don’t quite match.”
---Allan Kozinn, New York Times

“In sum, this release's positive qualities merit a warm, if not unequivocal recommendation.”
Jed Distler, Classics Today

“It’s not often that a chamber-music recording grabs me as this one has…. The performances on this hybrid SACD sizzle, and the finale had my blood pounding -- it is one of the most exciting bits of music making I have heard all year….I don’t give ratings in this column, but if I did, this disc would be at the very top of the scale.”
---Rad Bennett, ultraaudio.com

“These performances are paragons of classical-era restraint and grace, the most distinguished playing coming from the least-known of the three, pianist Jonathan Gilad. He has that Mozartean talent for saying great things with intricately wrought sound.
The SACD sound is a surprising plus: Though Mendelssohn's string writing represents a close collaboration between violin and cello, the sound separation never leaves any doubt about who is doing what.”
---David Patrick Stearns, Philadelphia Inquirer

“The sound on this SACD disc is demonstration quality. The plain CD layer, although recorded at a somewhat lower dynamic level, is also quite good. I'm consistently impressed with the sound on these PentaTone hybrid SACD releases.

If you're in the market for a CD of these works, don't hesitate. This release joins with the greatest every made of these marvellous pieces.”
---Scott Morrison, Amazon.com

“This has to be one of the best discs of chamber music making I have ever heard and certainly one of the best recorded. Right from the moment that Daniel Muller-Schott opens the D minor trio one sense that this is really very special and the following entrances from Jonathan Gilad and Julia Fischer only confirm that feeling; despite all three being concert soloists in their own right, this is a real meeting of minds. This is playing that makes one sit up and take notice for all the right reasons; it certainly completely eclipses all other versions of this wonderful music I have heard.”
---John Broggio, SA-CD.net

“Since the foundation of PentaTone Classics in 2001, their enterprising programming; appealing contemporary presentations; consistently high quality performances and state of the art recordings have been nothing short of astonishing. I look forward enthusiastically to each of their stylish new releases and this hybrid Super Audio CD of Mendelssohn’s two Piano Trios was no exception. After a check of the accompanying marketing information it seems that this disc has already been selected as a Gramophone ‘Editor’s Choice’ and the recipient of a Diapason d'Or award.
PentaTone have provided a smart contemporary presentation, interesting and detailed annotation, excellent sonics together with superb performances. What more could one ask. This is certainly a disc to dash out and purchase.
Michael Cookson, Musicweb

Jonathan Gilad
Jonathan Gilad was born in Marseille in 1981, where he began playing the piano at the age of four. He became a student at the Conservatoire National de Région de Marseille, studying with Pierre Pradier, where he received in 1992 the Premier Grand Prix (= first prize) of the city of Marseille in the piano class and the Médaille d’Or (= golden medal) in the chamber-music class.

In November 1991, Jonathan Gilad received the special prize from the jury of the Mozart competition organised by the city of Paris, and in April 1992 the Premier Prix (= first prize) of the international competition Premio Mozart for children under the age of 14 in Geneva. That same year, he was a prize-winner at the Summer Academy in Salzburg. In 2002, he was also a prize-winner of the Natexis Foundation.
As of 1991, Jonathan Gilad also studied with Dmitry Bashkirov, and followed courses both in Madrid and Salzburg. From 1999 to 2001, he also studied at the International Piano Foundation in Cadenabbia (Lake Como), where he had the opportunity of working with great teachers such as Karl-Ulrich Schnabel, Leon Fleisher and Fou-Tsong.

Jonathan Gilad has already performed at numerous festivals, such as those of Ravinia, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Ruhr and Lucerne, and has also given recitals in prestigious halls such as the Herkulessaal in Munich, the Wigmore Hall in London, the Philharmonie in Berlin and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. He has performed with many orchestras, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre de Paris, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, the Salzburg Camerata Academica, the Orchestra of the Maggio Musicale in Florence, the Saõ Paulo State Orchestra, the Moscow Virtuosi, and the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, under the baton of such conductors as Daniel Barenboim, Seiji Ozawa, Zubin Mehta, Yuri Temirkanov, Sandor Vegh, Sir Neville Marriner, Kazimierz Kord, Eiji Oue, Vladimir Spivakov and Jesus Lopez-Cobos. He also regularly performs in chamber-music recitals with partners such as Julia Fischer, Daniel Müller-Schott, and Nikolaj Znaider, as well as Renaud and Gautier Capuçon.

In October 1996, following the recommendation of Daniel Barenboim, he replaced Maurizio Pollini, who was unwell at the time, in Chicago, thus making his début in the United States. In October 1998, he performed with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Yuri Temirkanov, on a tour of the United States, during which he made his début at New York’s prestigious Carnegie Hall.

His first recording was released in November 1998 in the EMI “Debut” series, and contains works by Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms. The disc received a nomination for one of the “Victoires de la Musique Classique 1999”. His second disc was dedicated to sonatas by Beethoven, and was released in September 2003, marking the beginning of his collaboration with the Lyrinx label. A third recording dedicated to Mozart sonatas was released in October 2004. His latest disc was released in November 2005, and contains works by Rachmaninov and Prokofiev.

During the course of the 2004-2005 season, Jonathan Gilad performed in New York’s Carnegie Hall, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Vienna’s Konzerthaus, at the Munich Philharmonie, the Zurich Tonhalle, and at the Geneva Victoria Hall, among others: he also gave recitals in Munich, Dortmund, Parma, and Rome. In May 2005, he had the opportunity of performing in recital at the Paris Mogador theatre as well as in Chicago. That same month, he also made his début with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande in Geneva, under the baton of Pinchas Steinberg.

Future projects include: concerts with the Orchestre de Paris, Frankfurt Radio Orchestra, Berlin Radio Orchestra, the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, as well as concerts in Paris, London, Milan, Florence, Amsterdam, Munich, Ottawa and New York.