Mendelssohn completed a dozen strings-only symphonies before, at the age of 15, he got around to his formal No 1. Jan Willem de Vriend here couples it with the Scottish, begun five years later and numbered No 3, but actually the last to be completed. There's a lot of high-energy music in both works, and if you are attuned to the gentler side of Mendelssohn you may find yourself taking exception to the wind-in-the-face, often high-pressure style of De Vriend's music-making. De Vriend has a background in the period performance of early music, and he brings that sensibility to Mendelssohn in ways that affect every section of the orchestra, and provide many fresh textural and tonal perspectives. The effect in the First Symphony is especially invigorating. challenge.nl