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Isata Kanneh-Mason

Mendelssohn

Decca Classics
Release Date: August 9, 2024

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1 Piano Concerto No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 25 I. Molto allegro con fuoco  
2 II. Andante  
3 III. Presto – Molto allegro e vivace  
4 A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 61 Scherzo  
5 A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 61 Nocturne  
6 Mendelssohns Lieder, S. 547 I. Auf Flu¨geln des Gesanges (After Op. 342)  
7 Lieder ohne Worte VI, Op. 67 II. Allegro leggiero, MWV U145 Lost Illusions  
8 Lieder ohne Worte VI, Op. 67 VI. Allegretto non troppo, MWV U188 Cradle Song  
9 Notturno in G Minor, H-U 337  
10 I. Allegro assai moderato  
11 II. Largo e molto espresso – Poco piu` mosso  
12 III. Scherzo. Allegretto  
13 V. Allegro con strepito  
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As she prepares to open the 2024 BBC Proms season, Isata Kanneh-Mason today presents her fourth solo album, Mendelssohn, to be released on 9th August on Decca Classics. Here the pianist presents music from both Mendelssohn siblings: the glittering Piano Concerto No.1 by Felix and the long-lost ‘Easter Sonata’ by his exceptionally talented but overlooked elder sister Fanny, as well as transcriptions by other composers of some of Mendelssohn’s most famous music.

“I am fascinated by Fanny Mendelssohn,' says Kanneh-Mason, 'She lived in such a confined way, yet her music has so much fire and so much passion.” That confinement was part and parcel of life for women in the 19th-century: Fanny was prevented by her father from pursuing a career as a concert pianist or composer due to her gender. Rather than adhere to his strict instructions that music should be merely an 'ornament' for his daughter, Fanny composed in private, writing nearly 500 works. Many of these are still being discovered today, with several – such as the 'Easter' Sonata, written when Fanny was only 22 – a piece lost for 150 years, originally assumed to have been created by Felix and performed under his name for decades.

Isata recently featured in the critically acclaimed film ‘Fanny: The Other Mendelssohn’, produced by the composer’s great-great-great-granddaughter Sheila Hayman, which explores the life of Fanny Mendelssohn, later Fanny Hensel, and revealing the fascinating story behind ‘Easter Sonata’. This new album features the world premiere recording of the new urtext edition of this work.

  • Isata Kanneh-Mason knows how to craft this enticing 'Mendelssohn' program and advocate for it / the arts fuse
    Posted At: September 16, 2024 12:00 AM
    Isata Kanneh-Mason today presents her fourth solo album, Mendelssohn. Released on 9th August via Decca Classics, tthe pianist presents music from both Mendelssohn siblings: the glittering Piano Concerto No.1 by Felix and the long-lost ‘Easter Sonata’ by his exceptionally talented but overlooked elder sister Fanny, as well as transcriptions by other composers of some of Mendelssohn’s most famous music.“I am ...
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  • A sibling spark fuels Isata Kanneh-Mason's 'Mendelssohn' album / NPR
    Posted At: August 9, 2024 12:00 AM
    Heard on NPR's All Things Considered, Tom Huizenga writes…..The 28-year-old pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason knows a thing or two about family dynamics. She's the eldest of seven young, classically trained siblings from England. (You may know her brother, cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, whose career launched after performing at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.) Perhaps that’s why she chose another music...
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  • All you need to know about Isata Kanneh-Mason / BBC Music Magazine
    Posted At: June 8, 2023 12:00 AM
    Pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason is in great demand internationally as a soloist and chamber musician. She offers eclectic and interesting repertoire, with her recital programmes encompassing music from Haydn and Mozart, via Fanny Mendelssohn and Clara Schumann, Chopin and Brahms, to Gershwin and beyond. In concerto, she is equally at home in Felix Mendelssohn and Clara Schumann, whose piano concerto featured on ...
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  • Isata Kanneh-Mason's 'Childhood Tales' is the IdeastreamWCLV - Recording of the Week
    Posted At: June 6, 2023 12:00 AM
    Decca Classics new Isata Kanneh-Mason ‘Childhood Tales’ is out now.Isata evokes the magic of childhood in this charming collection of nostalgic music. The album is centred around Erno Dohnányi’s rarely performed Variations on a Nursery Song, expanding the well-known ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star’ into a truly virtuosic work which takes the theme through eleven musical variations and a fugal finale. Subtitl...
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  • Isata Kanneh-Mason - Childhood Tales is the WFMT: Featured New Release
    Posted At: May 30, 2023 12:00 AM
    Decca Classics is delighted to release pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason’s third album ‘Childhood Tales’ is out now. Continuing her developing legacy with Decca Classics that began in 2019, this album uses Dolby Atmos Technology to capture Isata’s signature virtuosic flair. The first single is Mozart’s Variation 11: Adagio from Twelve Variations on “Ah vous dirai-je, Maman."The eldest of the famous musical sibling...
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  • Isata Kanneh-Mason - Childhood Tales is ABC-CLASSIC, Austraila 'Featured Album'
    Posted At: May 28, 2023 12:00 AM
    Decca Classics is delighted to release pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason’s third album ‘Childhood Tales.' Continuing her developing legacy with Decca Classics that began in 2019, this album uses Dolby Atmos Technology to capture Isata’s signature virtuosic flair. The first single, Mozart’s Variation 11: Adagio from Twelve Variations on “Ah vous dirai-je, Maman”, is out today.The eldest of the famous musical siblin...
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  • Watch Isata Kanneh-Mason play Debussy's 'Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum' in GRAMOPHONE's 'Video of the Day'
    Posted At: May 26, 2023 12:00 AM
    Decca Classics is delighted to announce the release of Pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason’s third album ‘Childhood Tales.’ Continuing her developing legacy with Decca Classics that began in 2019, this album uses Dolby Atmos Technology to capture Isata’s signature virtuosic flair. The first single, Mozart’s Variation 11: Adagio from Twelve Variations on “Ah vous dirai-je, Maman."The eldest of the famous musical sibl...
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  • Isata Kanneh-Mason - Summertime makes Pianist Magazine's 'Top 10 piano album releases of 2021'
    Posted At: December 15, 2021 12:00 AM

    Pianist Magazine' writes....2021 has treated us to a huge number of new releases from our favourite pianists. Here we've gathered our favourite 10 of the year... Included on our list is Summertime – Isata Kanneh-Mason.   After the success of her first album 'Romance', the pianist turned her attention to Black and/or American composers in the form of her July 2021 releas...
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  • Isata Kanneh-Mason chats about 'Summertime' with Colorado Public Radio
    Posted At: August 23, 2021 12:00 AM

    25-year-old British pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason presents her vibrant second album Summertime, fizzing with her signature virtuosic flair. The album was released on CD and digitally vkia Decca Classics on 9th July 2021. Isata says, "I am delighted to be presenting my second solo album Summertime, which features a rich array of pieces from many of my favourite American...
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  • Isata Kanneh-Mason explores American music with New Classical Tracks
    Posted At: August 18, 2021 12:00 AM

    New Classical Tracks - JULIE AMACHER writes....Isata Kanneh-Mason is the oldest of seven incredibly talented musical siblings. They've all studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London and Kanneh-Mason received an Elton John Scholarship. "I've never really been to a pop concert and to be on stage in that setting is so different from what I'm used to. It really brought me into a different world,...
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  • Isata Kanneh-Mason - Summertime is thoughtfully put together and an enjoyable listen / THE CLASSIC REVIEW
    Posted At: August 11, 2021 12:00 AM

    THE CLASSIC REVIEW's Azusa Ueno writes.....Summertime is Isata Kanneh-Mason's follow up to her successful 2019 debut, Romance. This new album reveals her perspective of American 20th-century music. She includes what is quintessentially ‘American': Gershwin's Three Preludes with their infectious roaring ‘20s vibe along with some of Earl Wild's Gershwin transcriptions, among others. But the...
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  • Isata Kanneh-Mason's 'Summertime' is decidedly unique and makes for stimulating listening / THE REHEARSAL STUDIO
    Posted At: August 6, 2021 12:00 AM

    THE REHEARSAL STUDIO's STEPHEN SMOLIAR writes.....British pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason made her recording debut on the Decca album entitled Romance: The Piano Music of Clara Schumann, which was released in July of 2019. Almost exactly two years later (this past July 9), Decca released her second album entitled simply Summertime. This is almost entirely an American album with what one might call minimal...
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  • 909WUOL 'Behind the Playlist' CHATS WITH Isata Kanneh-Mason
    Posted At: August 4, 2021 12:00 AM

    Following on from her award-winning, debut album Romance, a portrait of Clara Schumann that landed at the top of the UK Classical Chart on its release in 2019, 25-year-old British pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason presents her vibrant second album Summertime, fizzing with her signature virtuosic flair. Isata says about this Decca recording...  "I am delighted to be presenting my sec...
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  • Isata Kanneh-Mason's 'Deep River' the beloved spiritual, gets heard in strikingly diverse setting of Sierra Leone / NPR
    Posted At: July 16, 2021 12:00 AM

    NPR's Tom Huizenga writes ........"Deep River," the beloved spiritual, gets heard in strikingly diverse settings – from a swing version recorded by Tommy Dorsey in 1941 to an operatic performance at the memorial of Ruth Bader Ginsberg last year. For this new recording by the rising young British pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason, the backdrop is Sierra Leone. That's where her mother is from, as wa...
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  • Isata Kanneh-Mason - Summertime is the WFMT: Featured New Release
    Posted At: July 12, 2021 12:00 AM

    WFMT's Lisa Flynn writes.....Following her debut album Romance, a portrait of Clara Schumann, British pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason presents her vibrant second album Summertime. She says, "Summertime features a rich array of pieces from many of my favorite American classical composers. The Barber Piano Sonata forms the anchor around which the rest of the album was developed; I fell in love with the piec...
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  • Isata Kanneh-Mason Q&A's with the San Francisco Classical Voice
    Posted At: December 21, 2020 12:00 AM

    San Francisco Classical Voice, Lily Obrien writes....At just 24, pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason has already led a pretty incredible life. The oldest in a family of seven siblings from Nottingham, England, all instrumentalists seriously devoted to classical music, she began playing the piano at age 6, was a finalist in the 2014 BBC Young Musician competition, and held an Elton John scholarship while studying ...
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  • In BBC SSO debut, Isata Kanneh-Mason addresses Beethoven?s Piano Concerto No 3 with clinical alertness and unassuming confidence / The Scotsman
    Posted At: December 4, 2020 12:00 AM

    In another discovery moment, Isata Kanneh-Mason's concerto debut with the BBC SSO (****), all eyes were on the young British pianist's ability to distinguish herself from her more famous younger brother, cellist Sheku, or indeed any of the other five siblings emerging from the exceptional Kanneh-Mason household. She chose Beethoven's Piano Concerto No 3, addressing it with clinical alertness and unas...
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  • Benjamin Grosvenor, Isata Kanneh-Mason & Mitsuko Uchida make 'the best piano performances from this year's BBC Proms' / Pianist
    Posted At: September 15, 2020 12:00 AM

    This year's edition of the Proms may have been very different, given Covid-19, but we were still treated to some exceptional piano performances... Benjamin Grosvenor - Grosvenor was joined by the Philharmonia Orchestra and conductor Paavo Järvi for a performance of Shostakovich's First Piano Concerto, bookended by Ravel's neo-Baroque masterpiece Le tombeau de Couperin and Mozart's titanic Sy...
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  • The Kanneh-Masons Q&A with QXR
    Posted At: January 15, 2020 12:00 AM

    Few classical musicians have had as many viral moments as the Kanneh-Masons have - and they're just getting started. I first saw the family of seven siblings, mostly string players, in a 2015 Facebook video of them huddled in a living room in Nottingham, England, absolutely shredding Monti's Csárdás. The next year, the older cellist, Sheku was in yet another viral video, winning the 2016 BB...
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  • WCRB's 2019 CD of the Week - of the Year!
    Posted At: December 20, 2019 12:00 AM

    It's time for our annual list of our favorite CD of the Week picks of the past year! We asked members of our staff for their favorites, and here's what they had to say: Isata Kanneh-Mason: Romance: The Piano Music of Clara Schumann - Kendall Todd: It's no secret that I love Clara Schumann. I've been stopped more than once from calling her "the best Schumann" on WCRB's official social media ac...
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  • Isata Kanneh-Mason's 'Romance - The Piano Music of Clara Schumann' makes 105.9:WQXR 'Best Classical Recordings of 2019'
    Posted At: December 17, 2019 12:00 AM

    As a decade that has brought its fair share of ups and downs comes to a close, it's hard to be anything but amazed by one enormous plus: the sheer volume of exceptional new classical recordings that hit the shelves in the 2010s. The last year has been a fitting culmination, chock-full of brilliant reinterpretations of old favorites and bold ventures into new musical frontiers. Here are our favorites of 2...
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  • Isata Kanneh-Mason and the power of Clara Schumann / WCRB: CD Of the Week
    Posted At: August 5, 2019 12:00 AM

    Pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason's awe and reverence for Clara Schumann made for an easy decision on how to focus her debut CD, and WCRB has chosen it as our CD of the Week. Not every journey turns into a mission. But that's what seems to have happened for 24-year-old pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason, whose exploration of the music of the prodigious 19th-century composer/pianist Clara Schumann began as an a...
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  • Isata Kanneh-Mason's debut album honors 200 Years of Clara Schumann / KDFC: Album Of the Week
    Posted At: July 29, 2019 12:00 AM

    You probably recognize her last name!     Isata Kanneh-Mason is big sister to cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason and the oldest member of a remarkably musical British family of seven talented siblings. Isata studied at the Royal Academy of Music, where she held the prestigious Sir Elton John Scholarship. We'll let her introduce her debut album, Romance, to you: "For the 200 anniversary of Cla...
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  • Isata Kanneh-Mason rediscovers Clara Schumann on 'ROMANCE' / KUSC: Album Of the Week
    Posted At: July 29, 2019 12:00 AM

    You probably recognize her last name!     Isata Kanneh-Mason is big sister to cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason and the oldest member of a remarkably musical British family of seven talented siblings. Isata studied at the Royal Academy of Music, where she held the prestigious Sir Elton John Scholarship. We'll let her introduce her debut album, Romance, to you: "For t...
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  • For the 200th anniversary of Clara Schumann's birth, Isata Kanneh-Mason takes us on a journey through the composer's extraordinary life / WFMT
    Posted At: July 12, 2019 12:00 AM

    For the 200th anniversary of Clara Schumann's birth, pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason takes us on a journey through the composer's extraordinary life. Kanneh-Mason joins forces with an all-female line-up to champion the significance of women musicians throughout the years and their influence on the classical music canon. The recording features Clara Schumann's Piano Concerto, along with solo works for piano an...
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  • Isata Kanneh-Mason takes listeners on a journey through the extraordinary life of Clara Schumann / udiscovermusic.
    Posted At: July 5, 2019 12:00 AM

    Pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason hit the national headlines in April 2019 following the announcement of her signing to Decca Classics, joining her younger brother, cellist Sheku, on the label in Decca's 90th birthday year. Isata's debut album Romance, takes listeners on a journey through the extraordinary life of Clara Schumann, one of the most distinguished composers and pianists of the Romantic era. ...
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  • Isata Kanneh-Mason's 'Romance - The Piano Music of Clara Schumann' gets CLASSIC fM 'Album Of the Week'
    Posted At: June 30, 2019 12:00 AM

    Every week, Classic FM presenter and music expert David Mellor reviews the best new releases and re-issues from the world of classical music. This week, David picks out Isata Kanneh-Mason's 'Romance - The Piano Music of Clara Schumann' on Decca. After the rise to fame of cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, now along comes his sister Isata, making her debut album on Decca. It's a well chosen ...
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