Mendelssohn String Quartets Vol. 2

No 2, Op 13; No 5, Op 44 No 3. Four pieces for String Quartet, Op 81 Capriccio in E minor; Fugue in A flat

Naxos CD 8.570002, 2009

New Zealand String Quartet

Mendelssohn’s quartets exhibit a remarkable blend of fantasy, emotion and intellectual rigour, allied to an insider’s expertise in writing for strings. The best performances, it seems to me, give due weight to each aspect.

The New Zealand String Quartet clearly love this music, and their strong sense of internal balance allows them to bring out many telling details that often go unnoticed: one example occurs just before the end of the first movement of the Quartet in E flat where a final recall of the second theme is accompanied by double-stopped cello pizzicati; given extra emphasis here, these dark tones cast a deeper shadow over the coda’s E flat radiance. In the same quartet’s finale, which can seem rather superficial, the New Zealanders’ confidence as ensemble players permits a flexible approach; the rhythmic momentum is never destroyed, but bends a little so that the characters of the different motifs can be enhanced.

Whenever Mendelssohn’s ardent, Romantic temperament comes to the fore, these players respond. Their passionate finale of Op 13 may not quite have the intensity of the Leipzig Quartet’s, but, at a slightly more measured tempo, the focus here is rather on expressive detail. Conversely, in Op 44 this version may not rival the rich tonal variety of the Eroica Quartet, with its historical approach, but maintains more forcefully the music’s vigorous impetus, while keeping that essential warmth of expression that’s missing from the brilliant, energetic, but dispassionate Pacifica Quartet.

With one more volume to come, this promises to be an outstanding set.