Recordings

A very different Eroica, the Eroica String Quartet was founded in 1993 by four British period instrument players to examine the string quartet literature from a historical perspective. Its performance of these two lustrous and little-encountered Mendelssohn quartets is graceful and charming, just right for upholding the composer’s generally insouciant reputation. The recording by the Juilliard, its first since Robert Mann’s retirement, is far more intense, rapt; and the surprise is how much more engrossing that rapt intensity is when it comes to this music. These quartets are Mendelssohn in an unusually Beethovenian mood, and although I found the new Juilliard dull Mendelssohnians in concert, on this recording the quartet sounds strong and sumptuous, uncovering a depth in music too often dismissed as lightweight.

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Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent). The albums are already released unless otherwise noted.