At a time when new issues of Mendelssohn quartets seem to arrive every month it’s interesting to be reminded of a time when recordings of them were rare. The Bartholdy Quartet’s 1973 Mendelssohn set qualifies as a pioneering recording, and the performances are, in the main, very good: the Bartholdy are a well-matched group, with rich, expressive tone and an unaffected approach to the music.

These players are particularly successful in the earlier quartets, where natural energy and a strong sense of commitment help to project the passionate flow of ideas. There are some movements, however, where the playing is rather mechanical – the pervasive semiquaver accompaniment in Quartet No 4’s Andante sounds relentless, taking attention away from the long-breathed melodies, and the repeated quavers in Quartet No 5’s opening Allegro chug along happily without supporting the tension in the soaring lines above. The adagio movements tend to be somewhat mundane, with a no-nonsense manner that seems above all determined to prevent any accusation that Mendelssohn’s music is marred by sentimentality. So, today, with many fine Mendelssohn performances available, the Bartholdy is no longer competitive.

The Pacifica is another matter. These young American players rival the Emersons for finesse and polish but their Mendelssohn has a very different character, with tone that’s clear and luminous as opposed to the more pressed, intense sound of the Emersons. Simin Ganatra plays the virtuoso violin parts with an extraordinary combination of purity and panache, and she touches our hearts, too, with passages of lyrical outpouring – the codas of No 1’s outer movements and No 4’s Andante, for instance. Her three colleagues match her, technically and expressively, and movements such as the finales of the Op 44 set, which demand four very agile players, have an authentic touch of brilliance.

The only major disappointment comes in No 2, where the finale, despite many beautiful moments, fails to sustain the impetus demanded by its passionate style. But throughout the set there are places where the Pacifica seem to be trying too hard to make each detail expressive at the expense of the overall effect – something of which the Emersons are never guilty. But these are certainly performances that demand investigation – listen to the Minuet in No 3, where the beauty of sound and meditative concentration are spellbinding.

The Eroica CD is the final volume of another complete set – a most remarkable one, too. Playing on period instruments and using bowings and fingerings suggested by the composer’s colleague Ferdinand David, a sound world is created that Mendelssohn might have recognised, rich and full of character, with a selective use of vibrato that creates vivid expressive effects (vibrato is rather like antibiotics – the more you use, the less effective it becomes). The Eroica members avoid ultra-short, off-the-string bowings; their smoother but still energetic manner gives a richly varied character to the outer movements of No 5 (taken rather slower than usual).

The nocturnal Scherzo in this quartet has a fantastic, dark quality, and the Op 81 Andante, sweet and luminous, is just as striking, while the interpretation of the sorrowful Op 80 is the most compelling I’ve ever heard. I attended a memorable Eroica performance of it last year, only shortly before Lucy Howard’s untimely death: the recording revives and intensifies the memory.