Alban Berg Quartett - Mendelssohn: String Quartets Op. 12 & Op. 13 (2005)

Shortly after Beethoven's death in 1827, the 18-year-old Felix Mendelssohn composed his String Quartet in A minor. Two years later, while on tour in England, the 20-year-old Mendelssohn composed his String Quartet in E flat major. The young Mendelssohn knew and loved Beethoven's late quartets -- he'd heard, played, and even analyzed them -- and his A minor and E flat major quartets are the inspired artistic results of his intimacy and affection.
In these performances by the Alban Berg Quartet, the inspiration and affection of Mendelssohn's A minor and E flat major quartets is ideally incarnated in interpretations that fully realize the composer's intentions. The Alban Berg Quartet was certainly the finest Central European quartet of the later years of the twentieth century. Although the earlier Berg Quartet was known for the bracing intelligence of its interpretations, by the time these recordings were made in 1999 and 2000, the group had added warmth of tone and depth of expression without conceding any of the intellectual concentration of its performances. The result is a disc of Mendelssohn's youthful monuments to Beethoven that does honor to both composers. EMI's sound is detailed and deep, but perhaps too real: the applause of the audience at the end of each work is disconcerting.