Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 4 Italian

A brilliant opening does not make every movement equally fast or equally bright. Mendelssohn’s Italian Symphony also contains measured walking and gentler song. Its final Saltarello renews the speed without simply restoring the major-key character of the beginning. Abbado’s 1984 London Symphony Orchestra recording takes about twenty-eight and a half minutes, enough to give these different kinds of motion their own proportions within a compact whole.

The work grew from Mendelssohn’s Italian travels of 1830–31 and a London commission, receiving its premiere under the composer in 1833. Publication did not immediately follow: he revised the final three movements, leaving an important distinction between early and revised forms. This presentation retains all four movements of the identified 1984 LSO recording. The Scottish Symphony, coupled with it on the current release, is a separate work.

The movement beneath the melody

The opening string tune does not supply all the energy by itself. The repeated activity underneath gives it spring. Separating the melodic foreground from the pulse supporting it makes the first impression more precise than a general description of sunshine. Remembering those roles also gives the listener something concrete to compare when the following movements adopt different ways of proceeding.

Two middle movements, two kinds of pace

The second movement lasts nearly six minutes and the third slightly more than six and a half. Neither should be treated simply as a pause between the faster outer movements. Their different walking and singing characters broaden the work’s range. Skipping them can make vitality seem synonymous with speed, while hearing them prepares a fresh contrast when the last dance arrives.

A conclusion in another colour

The Saltarello is the shortest movement here, lasting about five minutes and twenty-three seconds. Its minor-key drive does not return the opening’s expression unchanged. That makes the usual equation of major with happiness and minor with sadness less useful than attending to rhythm and instrumental interaction. The four movements resemble a collection of changing motions more than a single fixed picture of Italy.