Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy

Lieder mit und ohne Worte
Songs with and without Words

Thomas Michael Allen - Tenor
Reinild Mees - Piano

2009 marks the 200th Anniversary of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy's birth.

To celebrate this important occasion this recording has been released with a unique selection of Mendelssohn's Songs and Songs Without Words using an authentic Erard Grand Piano built in 1844. The Erard piano was Mendelssohn's preferred instrument. When he first played on an Erard these are the words Mendelssohn used to describe it:

I want an instrument with a perfectly even and precise touch, responding freely and fully to my wants and wishes ... I should think no sacrifice too great to preserve an instrument with such a beautiful tone ... and it is only now, since I enjoy the happiness of playing an instrument so full and rich in tone, that I realise how hard I should have found it to accustom myself to any other.

(excerpt from a letter to Mendelssohn's friend and colleague, Ignaz Moscheles (1797-1870))

This recording is unique in that it pairs Mendelssohn's songs for voice and piano with his Songs Without Words using an instrument he expressly preferred, the likes of which he owned and played. There are currently no other recordings of Mendelssohn's songs using an original instrument. Performed by the highly acclaimed tenor Thomas Michael Allen and the renowned pianist Reinild Mees, whose long-term collaboration as a vocal piano duo ensures an exceptional interpretation of this seldom performed and rarely recorded repertoire.

The prominent Mendelssohn scholar R. Larry Todd - author of the most recent and comprehensive biography Mendelssohn: A Life in Music - has acted as scholarly advisor and consultant to the project and has written the liner notes for the CD booklet.

The launch of this cd will also be accompanied by a series of concerts of the same repertoire in Germany and the Netherlands.