Mendelssohn String Quartets
Sun, Jun 17 2012, 6:45PM
I have recently discovered the Mendelssohn string quartets. It has changed my attitude towards his music. Previously, I considered him a light weight. Very well crafted and melodic but lacking in depth was my view. However, his string quartets show him to be a sophisticated composer with depth of feeling. I have been listening to the recording by the Pacifica quartet and have now ordered the Emerson cycle.It would be interesting to hear what others think. Regards Anand
Sun, Jun 17 2012, 11:56PM
#2
RE: Mendelssohn String Quartets
Mendelssohn's String Quartets are some great jewels of Chamber Music. Difficult, complex structurally and sometimes very demanding as for the virtuosity, they are not pretty much performed. However, they deserve repeated listening, so that they can start growing on you. The amazing thing is that one of his finest String Quartet is his second, the op. 13, in a minor. A sublime and magnificent work (composed at his teens!).
The Pacifica Quartet is outstanding, while the Emerson is excellent but not brilliant. The Praga Digitals individual recordings (including the two String Quintets) and using their two great Ensembles, namely the superb Prazak and the newest but still very solid Zemlinsky Quartet, have achieved a very prestigious level of performing these works. This month, the excellent German label Audite has launched a new series of all the String Ensemble works of the composer (including, apart from the Quintets, the String Octet as well). The String Quartet they use is another superb group of great musicians, the Manderling String Quartet. The first volume is beyond belief as a performance and recording.
Parla
Mon, Jun 18 2012, 10:56AM
#3
RE: Mendelssohn String Quartets
The Henschel Quartet have quite recently covered all the String Quartets and also (seperately) recorded the Quintets. Their complete set seems to be deleated at the moment but the individual discs can still be picked up. They all received excellent reviews and are quite cheap on Arte Nova. The Henschels also produced a very enjoyable recording of Ginastera's first 2 quartets.
I couldn't agree more. Mendelssohn has always seemed to me a less talented, more immature, fastidious but trivial romantic Mozart. He was loved by the British Victorians but they liked a lot of pompously bad art. I can't really get on with Dvorak except in his piano trios and some of his string quartets but I was very surprised by Mendelssohn's string quartets. The Leipziger string quartet in the three Op 44 quartets and the Elias in the Op80/Op13 have been my introduction to them, all absolutely excellent works. I notice he also wrote two string quintets but haven't ventured there yet.