Claus Peter Flor’s Mendelssohn enjoys the classical virtues of good taste, fine attention to detail, and a real sense of style. That said, competition in this music is fierce, and neither Flor nor the Bamberg Symphony operates at the level of distinction to make these performances competitive with the very best, particularly the reference editions listed above. For example, the finale of the “Italian” Symphony can basically go one of two ways: demonically fast and furious, or a touch slower but extremely precise rhythmically. Flor adopts the latter approach, but the playing lacks the necessary “wow” factor (as Szell, for example, could achieve). Similarly, the finale of the “Scottish” Symphony flows easily but without the grandeur in the coda that Bernstein brings to it (without inflation, by the way) in his DG recording with the Israel Philharmonic. In short, these are perfectly respectable and entertaining performances, well recorded. You won’t be disappointed, but you can still do better.
