A recent performance of this piece in the Twin Cities recalled to me the first time I heard it long ago. I saved my allowance and whatever other money I had as a child for recordings from the Columbia Record Club. The first two 33 1/3 records I bought were performances of John Wummer playing the Mozart Flute Concertos. The third was the Mendelssohn. I don’t recall the artist. Right from the start, I knew this was something extraordinary. Its lines were simple yet profound. The composition seemed almost classical. The high E in the climax of the third movement seemed almost unbearably lovely. I did not realize at that time that I had memorized much of it. That came later, when it played through my head over and over. There was simply nothing like it then or now…:-)
Le Chant du Rossignol...(song of the nightingale) 