(Section C)
Led by Laurance Turner
Conducted by AYLMER BUESST
BETTY HUMBY (pianoforte)
It is a curious fact that Mendelssohn complained that the ' Italian ' Symphony, completed in 1831, cost him some of the bitterest moments in his life, and in consequence it was not published until after his death, in 1847. Yet it is one of his finest works, perfect in workmanship and full of melodic charm and vital energy. We may ' safely conclude ', says Sir Donald Tovey , ' that Mendelssohn's own dissatisfaction with the " Italian Symphony " is rather an objection to the laws of human growth than the recognition of defects that self-criticism and revision can remedy. Certainly in the first three movements every bar and every note is in the right place, except for one tiny oversight in the slow movement which only a mistaken piety would leave uncorrected. As to the finale, no defect is discoverable ; but we can imagine that Mendelssohn could have wished to broaden its design towards the end.' Despite the excellence of this last movement, Mendelssohn had intended to revise it.