Search - Felix [1] Mendelssohn, Edvard Grieg, Shanghai Quartet :: Mendelssohn: Quartet No.2 In A Major/Grieg: Quartet In G Minor, Op.27

The Grieg String Quartet in G Minor featured here is not played as often as it might be, probably because it is a difficult work to pull off. But the Shanghai does it proud. They play it like it is: tempestuous, manic, passionate music. They keep control of it by rendering it as spoken word: clearly planned and clearly enunciated. A lot of this stuff could sound cloying and cliched and in lesser hands this music would not work. As to the Mendelssohn, if you like your his Quartet No. 2 in A to be brilliant yet understated you'll love this rendition. Everything is beautifully modulated, nuanced and thought-out. I personally prefer a little more pathos and angst, especially in the first violin line. --Gwendolyn Freed