It has been a few years since the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra strayed beyond the period that inspired its moniker. Indeed, after numerous distinguished recordings of Haydn, Mozart and their classical contemporaries, the German musicians moved on to the 19th century, accompanying Isabelle Faust in 2015's transcendent Schumann Violin Concerto.
Conductor Pablo Heras-Casado now takes on Mendelssohn with winning accounts of the two best-known symphonies. The Scottish Symphony, under the wrong baton, can be a sluggish affair but here it is as energised as a spring jaunt in the Highlands.
The opening andante is an invitation unable to be refused; sighing phrases and exquisitely contoured lines are born of the purest Romanticism. Period woodwind, horns and timpani make their presence felt throughout while the finale comes across as a feisty, and discreetly funky, country dance. The Italian Symphony is permeated with a Mediterranean zest for life. The closing saltarello is so light on its feet it seems to dance at twice the speed of some other versions.
The fourth volume of Edward Gardner and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra's Mendelssohn in Birmingham couples two familiar works.
