Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy: String Quartets in E flat major (Op. 12), in A minor (Op. 13) & in E flat major (1823) (Vol. 1) Mandelring Quartett

• 1Adagio non troppo - Allegro non Tardante07:31
• 2Canzonetta. Allegretto - Più Mosso04:04
• 3Andante espressivo -04:10
• 4Molto allegro e vivace - L'istesso tempo - L'istesso Tempo08:16
• 5Adagio - Allegro Vivace07:45
• 6Adagio non lento - Poco più animato - Tempo I07:34
• 7Intermezzo. Allegretto con moto - Allegro di molto - Tempo I04:47
• 8Presto - Adagio non lento - Adagio come I08:33
• 9Allegro Moderato08:23
• 10Adagio non Troppo05:59
• 11Minuetto - Trio - Minuetto da Capo04:56
• 12Fuga04:07
• Total Runtime01:16:05

Info for Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy: String Quartets in E flat major (Op. 12), in A minor (Op. 13) & in E flat major (1823) (Vol. 1)

Following their successful complete recording of the fifteen string quartets by Dmitri Shostakovich, the Mandelring Quartett on audite now embark on their next extensive recording series: Mendelssohn - The Complete Chamber Music for Strings, including the Octet and the two Quintets (together with the Quartetto di Cremona and Gunter Teuffel), presented on four SACDs in total. The first volume of this new series features a youthful work by Mendelssohn as well as the early master works, Op. 13 and Op. 12.

Even if Felix Mendelssohn composed far fewer string quartets than Haydn, Beethoven or Schubert, they nonetheless embody a musical romanticism that appears in Novalis' Hymns and Eichendorff's Novellas: a whispering within nature, at times with dramatic agitation, permeated by deeply felt chants. And even the quartet in E flat major, written by the fourteen-year-old pupil of Carl Friedrich Zelter, the Berlin composer and consultant to Goethe, implies that Mendelssohn would imaginatively maintain the musical legacy.

This legacy had one name, first and foremost: Ludwig van Beethoven. Following his death in 1827, Mendelssohn composed his first mature quartet, Op. 13, which explores Beethoven's formal ideas but, entirely romantically, places the song 'Ist es wahr?' at its centre. This work, as well as its successor, the quartet Op. 12 (the chronology of publication is the reason for the reverse numbering), proves to be formally highly advanced and reveals Mendels­sohn as a sophisticated musical narrator - a facet which also attracted criticism from his contemporaries.

Mandelring Quartett

Mandelring Quartett
The Mandelring Quartet’s remarkable homogeneity of sound, intonation and phrasing has become its distinguishing characteristic; four individuals who play as one in their shared determination to always seek out the innermost core of the music and remain open to the musical truth. By grasping the spiritual dimension, exploring the emotional extremes and working on the details, these musicians probe far beneath the surface of each work, thus revealing the multiplicity of meanings inherent in each. Their approach to the music is always both emotional and personal. All this combines to make the Mandelring Quartet one of the most high-profile ensembles on the international chamber music scene.

As winners of several major international competitions – Munich (ARD), Evian and Reggio Emilia (Premio Paolo Borciani) – the Mandelring Quartet has emerged as one of the important string quartets of today, appearing at the world's great concert venues. In addition to numerous performances in Germany, the Mandelring Quartet's concert tours have taken them throughout Europe – Amsterdam, Brus­sels, London, Madrid, Paris and Vienna – annually to North America – New York, Washington D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles, Vancouver – to Japan – Osaka and Tokyo – Central and South America – Buenos Aires, Lima, Montevideo – the Middle East and Asia.

The Mandelring Quartet has enjoyed highly successful appearances at the Rheingau Festival, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival and other important international festivals such as Lockenhaus, Montpellier, Montreal, Ottawa, the Engadiner Konzertwochen in Switzerland and the Salzburg Festival, where they have been invited to present complete cycle of Shostakovich string quartets in summer 2011.

The Quartet's CD recordings have received numerous awards. Numbering more than two dozen, they include a Schubert string quartet cycle, piano quintets by Brahms and Franck and a series "Brahms and his Contemporaries", selected by the Strad Magazine as CD Of The Month saying: “Here the Mandelring combine the LaSalle Quartet’s intellectual vigor with the Amadeus’ unbridled passion to provide the best of both worlds.” Their recordings of the string quartets of Shostakovich have been hailed by the press as one of the outstanding complete recordings of our time. “The direct comparison I've done puts the Mandelring Quartet's cycle up with the best. If I were to shed all but two cycles, I would keep the Borodin cycle and the Mandelring Quartet.” (Fanfare). The CD with Schumann’s Piano Quartet and Piano Quintet has been praised as the new reference recording, and their recent disc of String Quartets by Leoš Janác(ek has received the German Record Critics' Prize.

The HAMBACHERMusikFEST, the quartet’s own festival, provides a meeting place each year for lovers of chamber music from all over the world. Since 2010 the Mandelring Quartet has presented a regular series of concerts at the Kammermusicsaal of the Berlin Philharmonic.

This album contains no booklet.