Quatuor Van Kuijk - Mendelssohn: Complete String Quartets, Vol. 1 (2022)

The Quatuor Van Kuijk celebrates the tenth anniversary of its creation and its sixth recording for Alpha with a complete set of Mendelssohn’s quartets, of which this is the first volume: it opens with the Quartet op.13, composed in 1827, when he was only eighteen years old. ‘A trial run? No, a masterstroke! In every movement of this first quartet, we are constantly aware that the sense of urgency is the blood that runs through its veins. Never before have we heard such tension maintained over an entire quartet’, writes Stéphane Goldet in the album’s booklet notes.

Tracklist
01. Mendelssohn: String Quartet No. 2 in A Major, Op. 13, MWV R 22: I. Adagio - Allegro vivace
02. Mendelssohn: String Quartet No. 2 in A Major, Op. 13, MWV R 22: II. Adagio non lento
03. Mendelssohn: String Quartet No. 2 in A Major, Op. 13, MWV R 22: III. Intermezzo. Allegretto con moto - Allegro di molto
04. Mendelssohn: String Quartet No. 2 in A Major, Op. 13, MWV R 22: IV. Presto - Adagio non lento
05. Mendelssohn: String Quartet No. 1 in E-Flat Major, Op. 12, MWV R 25: I. Adagio non troppo - Allegro non tardante
06. Mendelssohn: String Quartet No. 1 in E-Flat Major, Op. 12, MWV R 25: II. Canzonetta. Allegretto
07. Mendelssohn: String Quartet No. 1 in E-Flat Major, Op. 12, MWV R 25: III. Andante espressivo
08. Mendelssohn: String Quartet No. 1 in E-Flat Major, Op. 12, MWV R 25: IV. Molto allegro e vivace
09. Mendelssohn: String Quartet No. 3 in D Major, Op. 44 No. 1, MWV R 30: I. Molto allegro vivace
10. Mendelssohn: String Quartet No. 3 in D Major, Op. 44 No. 1, MWV R 30: II. Menuetto. Un poco allegretto
11. Mendelssohn: String Quartet No. 3 in D Major, Op. 44 No. 1, MWV R 30: III. Andante espressivo ma con moto
12. Mendelssohn: String Quartet No. 3 in D Major, Op. 44 No. 1, MWV R 30: IV. Presto con brio