MENDELSSOHN'S STRING QUARTETS
Played by THE INTERNATIONAL STRING QUARTET:
Andre Mangeot (Violin); Walter Price (Violin); Eric Bray (Viola); Jack Shine bourne (Violoncello)
Quartet No. 1, in E flat (Op. 12)
1. Adagio non troppo, allegro non tardante; 2. Canzonetta : Allegretto ; 3. Andante espressivo; 4. Molto allegro e vivace
In addition to a posthumously published String Quartet in E flat (an early work), two movements of an unfinished quartet, and two odd movements (capriccio and fugue), Mendelssohn wrote six string quartets, all of which show the composer's wonderful melodic fertility and mastery of form. The three selected for this week's ' Foundations ' are No. 1 in E flat, Op. 12 ; No. 2 in A minor, Op. 13; and No. 4 in E minor, Op. 44, No. 2. The E flat and E minor Quartets are very straightforward in design, for each is based on the ordered principles of the classical masters. The A minor Quartet, which was actually written two years before the E flat (1827), is not, perhaps, on such a high level of attainment throughout. An interesting feature, however, is the use of the tune ' Is it True ? ', one of Mendelssohn's own songs, which opens and ends the work, and the second subject of the first movement also appears again in the last movement.