Bright and briskly bowed is how I find myself alliteratively describing the style of the quicker movements in the first six of these string symphonies as played here by a gifted Polish ensemble under their female conductor, Agnieszka Duczmal. What their performance conveys above all is the youthful exuberance of the brilliant boy who composed these half-dozen pieces at the age of 12 and the remaining six symphonies just two years later. After Mozart, Mendelssohn is the outstanding example of a musical child prodigy although I feel it's pretty obvious no 12-year-old can give us the expressive range, subtleties and ambiguities of an older mind. Thus, while one is constantly delighted by the craft and invention of these Mendelssohn pieces, I wouldn't say that the satisfaction goes to any depth.
This is self-evidently especially true in the slower central movements of the first six symphonies (all of which are in three movements), although no one would deny that such a piece as the B minor Andante in Symphony No. 2 expresses a refined wistfulness. Symphonies Nos.7, 8 and 9 have four movements because they include a minuet or scherzo, placed second, while No. 10 is an Adagio-Allegro. Symphony No. 11 has five movements with a scherzo and minuet as the second and fourth, and No. 12 is, again, a three-movement work. In general, symphonies Nos. 7–12 are conceived on a bigger scale, and something about their increasing length is to be learned, too, from their division on the four discs, with Nos. 1–6 all on the first disc and two symphonies each on the remaining three CDs. Incidentally, a triangle and drum play alongside the strings in the 'Swiss' second movement of Symphony No. 11.
To sum up, this set represents an impressive achievement both on the part of the young composer and that of his Polish interpreters, and although one might single out this or that felicity of musical invention or playing, I don't think it is necessary to do so. The recording is a touch reverberant and gives a sharpish bite to the sound of the violins and lower strings which is noticeable from the start, but is otherwise pleasantly full. The booklet note by Fabio Zannoni is usefully detailed.
To be honest, however, I hesitate to recommend the outlay on four full-price CDs, save to specialists, when the alternative version from the English String Orchestra under William Boughton (Nimbus) is on three discs (something achieved partly by a slight change in the order in which the symphonies are played) all of which are obtainable singly. A purchase of the second and third of these Nimbus discs gives a collector Symphonies Nos. 7–12, which in my view contain the most inventive and satisfying music with less indebtedness to Haydn and other models (though there is a dully academic central section to the Andante of No. 9). Humour and drama are increasingly to the fore and there's a wider display of musical techniques such as fugal writing. The three-movement Symphony No. 12 crowns the set impressively.
As for the playing, it is stylish and skilful throughout, with a bit more sparkle than that of the Amadeus Chamber Orchestra, and if it lacks the last ounce of polish in places, it compensates for this in spontaneity. Also, the recording, made in the Great Hall of Birmingham University, is just a little more mellow and easy on the ear than that of the Polish issue.'