Gewandhausorchester, Kurt Masur - Felix Mendelssohn - Orchestral Works (5CD) (2006)

Kurt Masur led the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra in two recordings of the complete symphonies of Felix Mendelssohn -- the first for Eurodisc in the early '70s when he was a beardless young man and the second for Teldec in the late '80s and early '90s when he was a fully bearded mature man. Although the first set was only intermittently available outside of Europe, it was considered at the time one of the great Mendelssohn cycles: brilliantly colorful, ardently lyrical, powerfully dramatic, and completely controlled. Thanks to Teldec's distribution through Warner Classics, the second set was available all over world, but those who remembered the earlier cycle considered it a distinct disappointment. While no less completely controlled, its colors were darker and drabber, its lyricism was cooler and more reserved, and its drama was much less compelling. That didn't mean the performances weren't worth hearing. Masur knew the scores inside out and how to make every note count, plus the Gewandhaus, Mendelssohn's old orchestra, plays with consummate dedication. But it does mean that listeners coming fresh to the music should strongly consider coming to it through a different recording first, preferably Masur and the Gewandhaus' earlier one. The couplings of Masur's well-played but less than magical performance of the complete incidental music for A Midsummer Night's Dream plus Cyprien Katsaris' virtuosically flashy but interpretively empty performances of the three works for piano and orchestra adds two more discs but no more excitement to the set. Teldec's smoothed-over digital sound is no improvement over the Eurodisc's lush stereo sound.