Mendelssohn cannily marketed these organ pieces both ways: as 'voluntaries' for Sunday-to-Sunday church organists and as 'sonatas' for more high-minded musicians.
Performed by Thomas Gaynor at the organ of Auckland Town Hall
Organist Thomas Gaynor Photo: Supplied
Mendelssohn originally intended his six sonatas, published in 1845, as a collection of individual movements – 'voluntaries' – but later organised them into groupings which he called Sonatas.
This likens them to the Bachian idea of a sonata – merely a suite of varying pieces linked by key, rather than a work written in the classical sonata form.
Recorded in Auckland Town Hall, 19 August 2018
Producer, Engineer: Tim Dodd
