One of the main reasons for the success of this disc is that instead of doggedly ploughing his way through a chronologically ordered selection of Songs Without Words, Sebastian Knauer has chosen only those which appeal to him and about which he has something individual to say.
At least, that is the impression one gets from his playing.
For Mendelssohn specialists there are the added bonuses of four world premiere recordings: the Songs in F sharp minor and F major (sans opus numbers) are heard here in the first edition of the 2001 Viennese Urtext; the Song in E flat is a completion by Mendelssohn's biographer Larry Todd (who also contributes the booklet here); Op 102 No 2 in D major is a 'recording of the dedicated original score' (no further information is given).
Realistically captured, with strong, sweeping accounts of the Variations sérieuses as the programme's centrepiece and the Andante andRondo capriccioso with which Knauer rounds off proceedings, this is a distinguished contribution to the 200th anniversary celebrations.

Realistically captured, with strong, sweeping accounts of the Variations sérieuses as the programme's centrepiece and the Andante and Rondo capriccioso with which Knauer rounds off proceedings, this is a distinguished contribution to the 200th anniversary celebrations.