Mendelssohn: String Quartets, Opp. 12 & 80

Editorial Reviews
The Strad
"The Henschel Quartet's playing was as close to perfection as to be beyond reproach. Magical!"

GRAMOPHONE
"If you think Mendelssohn is rather bland and well mannered, try this!"

Album Description
A total of eight works by Mendelssohn have come down to us that can be ascribed to the genre of the string quartet. Already, in his first proper quartets, we can see that the young composer was not only building on the classical models of Haydn and Mozart, but had also made an intensive and creative study of Beethoven’s late quartet works, which many of his contemporaries dismissed as being "spiritual thought music" or as "a deaf musician’s wild fantasies in sound."

Mendelssohn: String Quartets, Opp. 12 & 80

Album Description

A total of eight works by Mendelssohn have come down to us that can be ascribed to the genre of the string quartet. Already, in his first proper quartets, we can see that the young composer was not only building on the classical models of Haydn and Mozart, but had also made an intensive and creative study of Beethoven's late quartet works, which many of his contemporaries dismissed as being "spiritual thought music" or as "a deaf musician's wild fantasies in sound."

Tracks:

Str Qt in E flat, Op.12: I. Adagio Non Troppo - Allegro Non Tardante
Str Qt in E flat, Op.12: II. Canzonetta. Allegretto
Str Qt in E flat, Op.12: III. Andante Espressivo
Str Qt in E flat, Op.12: IV. Molto Allegro E Vivace
Str Qt in a, Op.13: I. Adagio - Allegro Vivace
Str Qt in a, Op.13: II. Adagio Non Lento
Str Qt in a, Op.13: III. Intermezzo. Allegretto Con Moto - Allegro Di Molto
Str Qt in a, Op.13: IV. Presto - Adagio Non Lento - Andante Come I

Mendelssohn: String Quartets Nos. 1 & 2, Opp. 12 & 13

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Mendelssohn: String Quartets Nos. 1 & 2, Opp. 12 & 13

Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Quartets | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

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ASIN: B00000GV4K
Release Date: 1999-01-19

Tracks:

String Quartet In E-Flat Major, Op. 12: I. Adagio non troppo - Allegro non tardante
String Quartet In E-Flat Major, Op. 12: II. Canzonetta. Allegretto
String Quartet In E-Flat Major, Op. 12: III. Andante espressivo
String Quartet In E-Flat Major, Op. 12: IV. Molto allegro e vivace
String Quartet In A Minor, Op. 13: I. Adagio - Allegro vivace
String Quartet In A Minor, Op. 13: II. Adagio non lento
String Quartet In A Minor, Op. 13: III. Intermezzo. Allegretto con moto - Allegro di molto - Tempo I
String Quartet In A Minor, Op. 13: IV. Presto - Adagio non lento - Adagio come I

Amazon.com

Founded in 1947, the Juilliard is the oldest American string quartet but has undergone several personnel changes. The present constellation was formed in 1997; this is its debut recording. It is superb. Tonal homogeneity was never the group's first priority, but the players have already achieved an extraordinary degree of technical, musical, stylistic, and expressive integration. Their intonation, balance, and pacing are impeccable; their rhythmic flexibility, dynamics, mood, and tempo changes unanimous. Joel Smirnoff, formerly second, now first violinist, has a brilliant technique and an exceptionally beautiful, warm, sweet, intense, variable tone, just right for the ardor, passion, exuberance, and inward serenity of these mercurial works, written when Mendelssohn was not yet 20 but displaying incredible compositional skill and emotional maturity. Op. 13, written first, pays homage to Beethoven with virtual quotes from the quartets Op. 95 and 132. Both are vintage Mendelssohn with their beguiling, songful melodies that recur through all the movements; their partly wistful, partly scintillating intermezzos; and their poetic, rapturous romanticism. --Edith Eisler