Mendelssohn String Quartets

Record and Artist Details

Composer or Director: Felix Mendelssohn

Label: Hyperion

Media Format: CD or Download

Media Runtime: 80

Mastering:

DDD

Catalogue Number: CDA66615

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
String Quartet No. 3 Felix Mendelssohn, Composer
Coull Qt
Felix Mendelssohn, Composer
String Quartet No. 5 Felix Mendelssohn, Composer
Coull Qt
Felix Mendelssohn, Composer
(4) Pieces for String Quartet, Movement: Capriccio in E minor Felix Mendelssohn, Composer
Coull Qt
Felix Mendelssohn, Composer
(4) Pieces for String Quartet, Movement: Fugue in A flat Felix Mendelssohn, Composer
Coull Qt
Felix Mendelssohn, Composer
I'm not sure that Op. 44 No. 1 in D or No. 3 in E flat count amongst the very greatest Mendelssohnian utterances—though Mendelssohn himself thought highly of the E flat major work, and like the D major, it's brilliant, vigorous, sweetly lyrical and with enough surprises to keep both players and listeners on their collective toes. Like the Ysaye Quartet (see above), the Coull are aware of the Beethovenian elements in Mendelssohn's quartet-writing—more so than the Cherubini Quartet in their recent complete set—but unlike the Ysaye they manage to bring them out without souring the music's normally friendly expression.
I like the muscularity of this playing. On the other hand some of the more relaxed, intimate passages strike me as a little short on character. The Minuet of Op. 44 No. 1 is oddly suave in effect—I miss the rise and fall of the breath and the occasional sf nudges. Leader Roger Coull's relative matter-of-factness in the opening bar of Op. 44 No. 3's Adagio non troppo was welcome after the Cherubini's expressive overdrive—but is it perhaps a little too reserved? I found the same problem in parts of the Op. 81 No. 4 Fugue—though they do have a way with long, expressive pianissimos, which suggests that the experience of playing Beethoven and Robert Simpson has left its mark. I just feel that Mendelssohn's dynamic 'hairpins' have to be more than take-it-or-leave-it level indicators, that something like a kind of Brahmsian Anschwellung is needed (presuming that my Eulenberg scores are at least reasonably authentic). Clear, bright recordings.'

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