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Mendelssohn’s musical precocity, both as a player and as a performer, manifested itself at a remarkably early age. In 1826, when he was only 17, Mendelssohn wrote not only his Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream but the first of his two string quintets. The String Quintet No. 2 followed 19 years later, in 1845, two years before his death. Despite the intervening years, the two Quintets are similar in style and form, with richly melodic and haunting slow movements and two wonderfully contrasting scherzos
Felix Mendelssohn: String Quintet No. 2 in B flat major, Op. 87
I. Allegro vivace
II. Andante scherzando
III. Adagio e lento
IV. Allegro molto vivace
Felix Mendelssohn: String Quintet No. 1 in A major, Op. 18
I. Allegro con moto
II. Intermezzo: Andante sostenuto
III. Scherzo: Allegro di molto
IV. Allegro vivace
Felix Mendelssohn: String Quintet No. 1 in A major, Op. 18: II. Minuetto (1st version)
String Quintet No. 1 in A major, Op. 18: II. Minuetto (1st version)
6th June 2008
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“The A major first quintet, Op 18... [is] scored for the Mozartian quintet lineup with two violas rather than the two cellos that Boccherini and later Schubert favoured, it inhabits an ingratiatingly charming, ebullient world. The second in B flat Op 87 was composed in 1845; it's just as energetic but not quite as carefree or melodically inventive. This is underlined by the edgy recorded sound and the brisk, business-like efficiency of the Fine Arts Quartet, which sometimes give Mendelssohn's unabashed lyricism rather short shrift.”
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I. Allegro vivace
