Search - Felix [1] Mendelssohn, Raphael Ensemble :: Mendelssohn: String Quartets

Enchanting Mendelssohn, splendidly rendered

Jeffrey Lee | Asheville area, NC USA | 08/07/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"These are mostly happy, charming pieces, played tunefully and with fine rhythmic aplomb by my favorite modern chamber group, the Raphael Ensemble. The endearing melodies of the First Quintet were put on paper by Mendelssohn at age 17, even before he composed his Overture to a Midsummer Night's Dream. Indeed, the Quintet's scherzo bears a very strong resemblance to its kin in the Complete Incidental Music to Midsummer. In both this and throughout the rest of the work, the Raphael displays its characteristic clarity and unanimity of style...The Second Quintet begins with a rush of strings. In the Raphael's hands, the pleasing sonorities echo in richly rhapsodic fashion right to the andante scherzando, which then benefits from its nice, light touch. The ensemble also is well attuned to the moderately pensive character of the following adagio. The closing allegro molto vivace reverses that mood with a lovely songfulness, which the Raphael conveys with fine abandon. One more superb disc from this outstanding group on the well recorded Hyperion label."

Fine playing fit for a recording

C. Leo | New York, NY | 08/23/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"An excellent digital recording. It feels like the ensemble put a lot of effort into both works before having them recorded, instead of rehearsing for a day or two and then recording it. Very together, good intonation, well articulated, and played very cleanly; without sacrificing the natural clockwork tempos of Mendelssohn, they work amazingly within its bounds and bring to life the inner fire, excitement and clarity that are the hallmarks of classic Mendelssohn.



The dynamic range may be extreme for some listeners accustomed to more monotonic CDs. The pianissimos are quiet, and the fortissimos are loud. Nothing as bad as the brass and tutti sections in the RCA victor Gold Seal recording of Van Cliburn with Kondrashin of Rach 2 and Tchaik 1 (beginning of track 3 from the RCA recording can get you jumpy even if you're aware of how the music goes). It adds great depth to the performance.



If you're listening to the Amazon snips, all the tracks are worth listening to but to get the gist of the crispness of the ensemble work, listen to tracks 3, 5, 6 and 8; tracks 1 and 2 for the warmness and color. Track 7 builds to a great climax in the end, but not within the first minute -- though they demonstrate their cleverness by starting without vibrato in the first phrase here, and then warm it up. A fine example of the ensemble working within the bounds of the music by deciding together how to play different phrases of the music to produce an inspiring interpretation."

Mendelssohn and the Raphael Ensemble: Miracle for the undera

D. J. Edwards | Cheshire, CT United States | 02/23/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Raphael Ensemble are one of England's greatest musical treasures. They create miracles from every sheet of music that falls into their hands. In live performance they must be deeply moving and must enrapture their audiences. Then add music like this and you have extraordinary musicianship and soul lifting joy. Their lush, natural sound is sheer pleasure. Their sound can only be experienced; words are inadequate to describe what only the ears can sense. Mendelssohn is outrageously underrated, especially his chamber music. His string quartets along with the string octet and the present disc belong on your chamber music shelf. If you don't have such a shelf. That's a loss. Create a tiny one, you'll be glad you did. Chamber music may not be for everyone, but music like this is not just "any" music. Listen and enjoy! Please!"