poster for 2009 Being Mendelssohn: Disc 4
× Disc IV pairs two composers of great significance to the life and art of Felix Mendelssohn. Beethoven catalyzed Western music’s transition from the Classical period into the Romantic era and served as an artistic model and inspiration for Mendelssohn throughout his career. Beethoven’s Kreutzer Sonata, a landmark of the violin sonata literature, was a work that Mendelssohn—one of his generation’s most outstanding pianists—loved dearly and performed often. Louis Spohr was a close friend and valued colleague of Mendelssohn’s, renowned throughout the Western musical community as a violinist, conductor, and the composer of such colorful works as the Opus 31 \Gran Nonetto\"" for Winds and Strings.