A sibling spark fuels Isata Kanneh-Mason’s 'Mendelssohn' album

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Isata Kanneh-Mason's new album features music by brother and sister Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn. / Decca Classics

The 28-year-old pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason knows a thing or two about family dynamics. She's the eldest of seven young, classically-trained siblings from England. (You may know her brother, cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, whose career launched after performing at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.) Perhaps that’s why she chose another musical family as the focus of her new album, Mendelssohn.

The recording is devoted to music by brother and sister Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn — two wildly gifted prodigies who wrote exquisite music in early 19th-century Germany. Along with its luminous melodies, Mendelssohn tells a story of sibling rivalry.

The dazzling album opener -- the only orchestral work on the recording -- is Felix Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No. 1, a piece that blends the rigor of Bach, the elegance of Mozart and the raw energy of the emerging Romantics, like Chopin. Kanneh-Mason’s attentive performance, alongside the London Mozart Players and conductor Jonathan Bloxham, highlights all the details with muscle and insight. It’s worth noting that in February of 1838, Fanny herself played her brother’s concerto in what would be her only known public performance. She would always be overshadowed by Felix, who enjoyed a superstar career, writing brilliant, featherlight melodies, like those within his incidental music to Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, two selections from which follow the concerto on Kanneh-Mason’s album.

She plays the intricate Rachmaninov arrangement of the Scherzo at a moderate tempo, slower than many, but with plenty of glittering fairy dust. Let’s be real, Kanneh-Mason doesn’t have Yuja Wang’s fleet fingers. No one does. But unlike some, she doesn’t pound her way through; she lets the music float in mid-air. The Nocturne, in a rarely-heard arrangement by the 19th century pianist-composer Moritz Moszkowski, unfolds serenely -- like a warm blanket protecting Shakespeare’s lovers.

Fanny Mendelssohn and her brother were inseparable. That is until Felix and her father discouraged her dreams of a career in music. No such prejudice in the Kanneh-Mason family, where all are supported by doting parents. And Isata often performs with her own brother, Sheku.

Fanny wrote some 500 pieces of music, mostly for performances in private salons. Only a fraction of them were published, including the Notturno in G minor from 1838, where Kanneh-Mason illuminates a variety of moods within the gently swaying rhythm of a Venetian gondola song.

While Felix’s music takes up the bulk of this album, it is Fanny’s work, especially the enigmatic “Easter Sonata,” that is the true treasure. The 23-minute piece is solidly built, with moments of febrile repose and turbulent spasms of brute strength. Fanny wrote the sonata in 1829, but it went missing until 1970, when scholars were convinced -- unsurprisingly -- that Felix was the author. Finally, in 2010, new evidence proved it to be Fanny’s work. And it is clear from Kanneh-Mason’s agile and passionate performance that the music holds a special place for her. The opening, she says, feels like spring, while the arresting final movement closes with delicately lit chords, moving like a processional into the ether.

Fanny Mendelssohn died of a stroke at age 41 in 1847. Felix was heartbroken, and died six months later at 38. They may have been the most naturally musical brother and sister in history. Thanks to Isata Kanneh-Mason, we have a sparkling album that documents some of their best work.