BaL 14.11.20 - Mendelssohn: String Quartet no. 6 in F minor Op.80

[HighlandDougie]

This CD from the Elias Quartet couples a very fine performance of the 2nd quartet (Op. 13) with Op. 80:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mendelssohn-String-Quartets-Op-Pieces/dp/B016KT1B4S/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=mendelssohn+elias+quartet&qid=1604245606&s=music&sr=1-4

I think that it may have been the BaL choice for Op. 13 in 2018. Whatever, their Op. 80 is well worth hearing (and isn't very expensive).

[Darloboy]

This CD from the Elias Quartet couples a very fine performance of the 2nd quartet (Op. 13) with Op. 80:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mendelssohn-String-Quartets-Op-Pieces/dp/B016KT1B4S/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=mendelssohn+elias+quartet&qid=1604245606&s=music&sr=1-4

I think that it may have been the BaL choice for Op. 13 in 2018. Whatever, their Op. 80 is well worth hearing (and isn't very expensive).

It was indeed the first choice for Op. 13 in 2018. You'll be pleased to know that you also possess Peter Quantrill's first choice for Op. 80 from October 2009.

Incidentally, Richard Wigmore did the complete string quartets on BaL back in October 2005. The Leipziger Qt were first choice; the Henschel Qt were budget choice; and the Eroica Quartet were the period instrument choice.

[BBMmk2]

I don’t know these. A go to?!?!?

[verismissimo]

Desert Island piece for me this,what a stunning work it is

For me too.

And there's been no mention thus far of the incandescent live recording by the Lindsays during their Romantics Festival - in the Small Hall at Blackheath Halls in September 1988.

I was there … in fact it was a festival organised by me! Never to be forgotten.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/String-Quartets-Lindsays-Brahms-Mendelssohn/dp/B00004SMTV/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=mendelssohn+lindsays&qid=1605339079&s=music&sr=1-5

[Ein Heldenleben]

Has any one else listening on FM just heard a massive Gradual drop in level ? Oh it’s Creeped Up again ..hifi not keeling Over
Good BAL this one ..

[Goon525]

Has any one else listening on FM just heard a massive Gradual drop in level ? Oh it’s Creeped Up again ..hifi not keeling Over
Good BAL this one ..

Yes, it happened via digital too, just on Natasha’s voice. Brief technical issue - though there’s not enough treble on her voice anyway.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Yes, it happened via digital too, just on Natasha’s voice. Brief technical issue - though there’s not enough treble on her voice anyway.

That was a weird one - a very slow even fade in and out is unlikely to be finger trouble

[Alison]

An excellent survey from the likeable Natasha Loges.

Everything she said was interesting. The sort of person one would like to live next door to.

[Goon525]

I agree. The usual limitations of the current format notwithstanding, a pretty good BaL.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Yes very judicious fair BAL and with clear cogent examples.

[Bryn]

Hmm. For me, the consigning of the Eroica Quartet to the reverence library spoke volumes for the lack of sympathy of this reviewer had for what the coomposer had in mind as far as performance practice is concerned. Instead of taking the bull by the horns she quietly put it down with her modernist stun gun.

[Pulcinella]

Hmm. For me, the consigning of the Eroica Quartet to the reverence library spoke volumes for the lack of sympathy of this reviewer had for what the coomposer had in mind as far as performance practice is concerned. Instead of taking the bull by the horns she quietly put it down with her modernist stun gun.

Would you have to go down on your knees to ask to take it off the shelves?

[Bryn]

Would you have to go down on your knees to ask to take it off the shelves?

Oops! However, not an entirely inapposite downwards slip of the forefinger. She did "recommend" it, though as something to be revered as a museum piece, rather than listened to more than once at home.

[gradus]

This is not a piece I've heard before. Listening to the Ebene quartet version on (the sometimes reviled) Spotify it sounds very good indeed. This is such a fine enthralling work I don't know how it has eluded me all these years. Absolutely wonderful playing.

[jayne lee wilson]

Sorry to hear about the shallow museological confinement of the Eroicas....all too typical of recent BaL commentary - though not in the Gramophone of course, thank goodness.
I'd heard the Eroica version twice last week and my admiration only increased....

Repertoire that means a great deal to me. Will certainly hear this BaL after dark and comment then...