There is a new audio file here. It contains the last 78 seconds of the finale of Mendelssohn’s E minor violin concerto with soloist Angèle Dubeau. The recording also includes the less well-known D minor concerto, written when the composer was 13 years old. Click here to go to the audio pages.

I’ve been asked to say something about the CD and I would like to talk about the earlier work: I treat it as a classical piece—imitative of, say, C.P.E. Bach. I think that it is a mistake to make it too romantic; that is, to interpret it in Mendelssohn’s mature style. As student painters begin by copying the masters, my observation is that student composers tend to write their first few pieces in a language a couple of generations old—until they find their own voices and their confidence.