And the recordings of Mendelssohn's String Quartets just keep on coming! In the past few years, the
Alban Berg Quartet,
Cherubini Quartett, the
Emerson Quartet, the
Eroica Quartet, and the
Henschel Quartet have all released recordings of some or all of Mendelssohn's quartets. This plethora of riches contrasts with the paucity of releases over the previous 50 years when recordings of Mendelssohn quartets were as rare as compassion among Republicans or competence among Democrats. But, as in all things, more is not necessarily better. In this disc by the
Vogler Quartet, Mendelssohn's E flat major Quartet sounds like lesser Beethoven while his A minor Quartet sounds like lesser Schumann. This is not to say that the
Vogler Quartet is anything less than a superlative group: the tone is warm, the intonation is true, the technique is accomplished, and the ensemble is polished. But it is to say that the
Vogler Quartet's interpretations, while ardent, lack the basic qualities that distinguishe Mendelssohn's music from Beethoven's or Schumann's: clarity, elegance, and emotional balance. Without these qualities, Mendelssohn sounds like an anonymous early Romantic German composer. With these qualities, he sounds like one of the best composers between Beethoven and Brahms. Profil's digital sound is clean enough when not much is happening, but congested when the textures grow thick.