My Top 10 Recordings - no. 5: Perahia/Songs Without Words

I love well programmed and thematic recordings, which is  why I enjoy this 1999 CD of Murray Perahia so very much. 

The album is all about songs without words. 

It features fifteen of Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words. Perahia’s interpretations bring new dimensions of depth to the famous miniatures. I particularly love his most beautiful attention to the vocal aspects of these pieces.

The four Busoni transcriptions of J.S. Bach’s hymns are perhaps my favorite. Darker than the Mendelssohn ‘songs’ - as to be expected - Perahia interpretation of the hymns sounds majestic and reverend. 

In preparation for my recent recording I re-listened to the Liszt/Schubert transcriptions, especially to “Erlkönig”. It is such fun to rediscover an old favorite, and this time around the recording sounded to me even more thoughtful than I remember.

The graphic design of the CD and of the substantial booklet is quite fun and draws attention to the featured focus, the connection between words and music. (The little letters runs throughout the booklet, I love these kind of details very much).