BaL 24.11.18 - Mendelssohn: String Quartet no. 2 in A minor Op.13

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Another that I'm quite partial to, is the Brilliant Classics box set of 'Complete Chamber Works' with various performers.... mostly the Sharon(!) Quartet

I have that set - good enough for whenever I would need to listen to this Music (and there's a really good recording of the Octet by the misleadingly-named Amati String Orchestra, which is just the eight players). "Sharon" isn't an unusual surname - there was the Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon. After all, there's also a Heath Quartet! And a Blair one!


(Yes - "Mendel's son"/"Mendelssohn" is a good way to remember the spelling [how many s-es and n's] - a bit like "Carob bean"/"Caribbean".)

[Bryn]

Elias (on the ASV label). O.k., it was, when first released, but these days it's on the bargain Alto label, ASV having gone to the wall, (bought by Sanctuary, nearly two decades ago, then on to Univeral Group a few years later). Oh, and the Chiaroscuro can be found on CD, not just as a download. Amazon certainly has it, for one.

[vinteuil]

Elias (on the ASV label). O.k., it was, when first released, but these days it's on the bargain Alto label, ASV having gone to the wall...

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... weren't ASV CDs particularly liable to bronzing?

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[Bryn]

If they were stamped by PDO, then yes. I do not know if, or for how long, they might have been. I don't think the Alto re-issue has/had that problem.

[vinteuil]

If they were stamped by PDO, then yes. I do not know if, or for how long, they might have been. I don't think the Alto re-issue has/had that problem.

... ah, I see that bronzing was a problem 1988-1993. This disc shd be OK...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_disc_bronzing

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[HighlandDougie]

Irrespective of the rather inept 'spoiler' on the part of the Beeb, I thought that this was BaL as it should be. Harriet Smith (one assumes now forgiven after her BaL on, err, something or other caused much harrumphing - was it Schubert?) was articulate, wide-ranging in her illustrations and convincing in her arguments. Most enjoyable way of spending 50 minutes on a Saturday morning and had me ordering the winner, so succeeded in its purpose as I don't think that I have the music in any format.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Please could Alpie, or another host with the necessary access, change the opus number in the thread title from 23 to 13, as Bryn pointed out in his appropriately numbered post, #13.

Ah - just spotted this, but another host must have have sorted it out.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I thought that this was BaL as it should be. Harriet Smith was articulate, wide-ranging in her illustrations and convincing in her arguments.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Ah - just spotted this, but another host must have have sorted it out.

kernelb in #20

[ardcarp]

I thought that this was BaL as it should be. Harriet Smith was articulate, wide-ranging in her illustrations and convincing in her arguments.

Yes, though I think after mentioning 3X that Felix was 18 when he wrote the piece, the line, "He was certainly no ordinary teenager" might have been omitted! Litotes or what. Very happy with the Elias as a final choice. I don't think I could live with her 'period instrument' choice, The Chiaroscuras, at least as I heard them on the radio. For a start the extracts played at a lower pitch (A430?) upset my appreciation of their tuning coming after the other examples; but surely Mendelssohn needs a bit of Romantic warmth. Whilst we can be sure of the gut strings used at the time, I don't think we can know about vibrato for certain...though I'm sure scholars will have pet theories.

[BBMmk2]

Had to pop out to the butcher this morning, so missed quite a bit but from what I heard, not too bad.

[Richard Barrett]

I don't know this work at all so I wondered whether it might provide my long-awaited way in to Mendelssohn. I would say it wears its Beethoven influence rather on its sleeve, although of course Mendelssohn has his own way with counterpoint, textures, thematic shapes and expressive character, and I did find it fascinating to hear the way the latter are filtered through such a deep admiration of Beethoven's quartets. Before listening to the programme this morning I listened to the Eroica Quartet, which I liked, and then afterwards the Chiaroscuro, which I liked more. I really can't be bothered with non-HIPP recordings of music from this period any more, now that there's a critical mass of interpretations that doesn't plaster it with pseudo-expressive encrustations, I mean "romantic warmth", so that the inner romantic warmth of the music's harmonies and colours is all the more radiant. Anyway I think the experience presages much further exploration of Mendelssohn's chamber music, which hopefully I can finally get to grips with. If so it will have had more to do with this thread than with the programme though!

[ardcarp]

Richard, I'm sure you probably know the Octet (written aged 16). But if not, it's a must, IMVHO, that is. As I've no doubt posted before, I remember vividly as a small child hearing my father + 7 others rehearsing it; and being fascinated how the themes were tossed around spatially. (I was cross-legged on the floor in a central position.) It's often been discussed how childhood impressions colour our later appreciation of music, so it's difficult to be impartial. But this is surely a terrific piece that needs no concession to the age of its creator.

[MickyD]

I agree about the Octet. Another really first-rate HIP recording of that, the Quartet currently under discussion, plus two more quintets is this one, available very cheaply. Hausmusik do this music proud.

[gurnemanz]

Re HIP Mendelssohn. I recently got a disc of his Complete Cello Works played on not just an original instrument but the original instrument. The Fondazione Walter Stauffer in Cremona lent them the cello once owned by Lise Cristiani, who was the 18-year-old dedicatee of the Lied ohne Worte op 109 and who played the work on that cello, accompanied by the composer, at its first performance in Leipzig in 1845. I have read that Lise (1827-1853) was the "first female cellist of note" and took it with her on her "extensive 40 concert 20,000 kilometre tour through Siberia!" - the trip seems to have helped see her off at an early age.). It is the first time the instrument has been recorded and it certainly makes a lovely sound.