There are eight string
quartets by Mendelssohn, of which six
are complete. This disc features two
of them, covering what might simplistically
be termed his so-called ‘early’ and
‘late’ periods. Mendelssohn was given
a hard act to follow. Those string quartets
of Haydn and Mozart, who virtually set
the genre in tablets of stone were followed
by those of Beethoven and Schubert who
between them developed it to its tautest
extremes. Mendelssohn’s String Quartet
Op.12, from its outset, has affinities
with a couple of Beethoven’s, namely
Op.74 (in the slow introduction) and
the late Op.127 (thematic material during
the course of the first movement). However
such similarities are restricted to
melody and rhythm rather than structure.
A feature worth mentioning regarding
form is its cyclical reference to material
from the first movement in the last.
A second quartet followed
immediately in numerical sequence (Op.13),
then a set of three (Op.44) which could
be described as the composer’s ‘middle’
period of 1837-1838, and finally Op.80
written in the last year of his life.
Op. 80 has the mark of death all over
it, not only Mendelssohn’s but also
that of his sister Fanny to whom he
was devoted. As he himself wrote, ‘At
first I could not think of music without
feeling a great arid emptiness in both
my head and heart’. He travelled to
Switzerland in an attempt to distract
himself from his grief, and began to
compose this string quartet. The result
is a work which continues in Beethovenian
vein to develop and progress away from
the conventional structure of the form.
Instead he explores new areas of rhythm
and harmony, emphasises both syncopation
and counterpoint, and spurns safe melodies
for turbulent ones, reflecting his state
of mind. It is in all senses of the
word, a final work.
The playing of the
highly acclaimed Henschel Quartet (three
siblings and an interloping cello partner)
is idiomatic and sensuously stylish
from the outset. At times they manage
to produce an orchestral sound from
their four instruments, while at the
same time preserving that essential
intimacy and clarity so essential to
chamber music playing. Highlights of
these performances reside in the impeccable
ensemble in the second-movement Canzonetta
of the early quartet, the very opening
of Op.80 with its intense Sturm und
Drang, the anguish of the same work’s
Adagio, and the angered resignation
of its Finale. We are a far cry from
the precocious youth of the Octet. Instead
we find ourselves at the emotional heart
of Romanticism. The way in which these
players capture with natural ease the
essence of Mendelssohn makes one anticipate
the second volume with mouth-watering
relish.
Christopher Fifield
see
review of Volume 2
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Henschel Quartet 
