There seems an increasing tendency to record string quartets in church locations, and I can't help but feel that it is a mistake. Even the most adroit microphone placing cannot prevent an over-generous acoustic, and while engineers can reduce reverberation they seem unable to cut out all extraneous ambient effects and these remain to curdle the sound-quality. In the case of this new Meridian disc, the recording is unpleasingly metallic, with a curious halo on the sound which blurs detail. The English Quartet are not at all flattered by these conditions, and their playing is given a strained, strenuous quality which I feel sure it would not have under kinder conditions. They offer decently played versions of both works, which perhaps do not achieve the greatest heights. Sometimes their technique is put under pressure, and in neither work do they quite get to the heart of the matter.
The same works are played on a three-disc DG set of the complete Mendelssohn quartets by the Melos Quartet ( (CD) 415 883-2GCM3, 12/87), and though they omit first movement repeats their versions are otherwise a good deal superior, with more balanced, elegant playing, tighter rhythms, more personality and greater depth of expression. In the Adagio of Op. 44 No. 3 the English Quartet adopt a very slow tempo, but the Melos take more heed of the non troppo qualification and their more flowing tempo is a good deal more convincing. But they have the advantage of a good studio recording.'