Händel / Mendelssohn

On his new album “Händel – Mendelssohn”, violinist and Opus Klassik Award winner Niklas Liepe brings together Mendelssohn’s famous Violin Concerto with fascinating, contemporary reinterpretations of some of George Frideric Händel’s most beloved works.

Renowned for his creative repertoire concepts, Niklas Liepe teams up with the NDR Radiophilharmonie, Jospeh Bastian and Nils Liepe to combine Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy’s Violin Concerto in E minor with fresh variations on iconic melodies by Händel. Pianist, composer, and arranger Tim Allhoff has crafted new versions of the celebrated aria “Lascia ch’io pianga” from the opera Rinaldo and the coronation anthem “Zadok the Priest” for solo violin, piano, and orchestra. Violinist and composer Aleksey Igudesman contributes his four-movement variation “Peace-acaglia” based on Händel’s Passacaglia, while composer and pianist Florian Christl provides a minimalist counterpoint to the original with his variation on Mendelssohn’s striking concerto theme.

“Mendelssohn and Händel have fascinated me since childhood. Their clear structures and flowing melodies are simply inspiring. With this album, I wanted to show the different colors these melodies can reveal and how their forms can be reimagined,” explains Niklas Liepe. Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto serves as the historical centerpiece, the point of reference around which all other works on the album revolve.