Mendelssohn: String Quartets Nos. 1 and 4 / Quartet in E-Flat Major
11/20/1994, 12 Tracks, 1:12:13
Featuring
Sharon Grebanier
Mariko Smiley
Basil Vendryes
Margaret Tait
Aurora String Quartet
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy
Did you know?
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Composer Biography
Felix Mendelssohn's grandfather was the influential 18th-century philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, who inspired the character "Nathan the Wise" by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing.
Performer Biography
The Aurora String Quartet is currently an ensemble-in-residence for San Francisco's Old First Church Concert Series and has performed West Coast premieres of works by several contemporary composers.
Recording & Production
This album was recorded at Fisher Hall, Santa Rosa, California, between May and August 1993, with Victor and Marina A. Ledin as producers.
Composer Biography
Mendelssohn died at age 38 from a paralytic stroke on November 4, 1847, just months after his sister Fanny's untimely death.
Compositional Technique
Mendelssohn's String Quartet in E flat, Opus 12, was patterned after Beethoven's "Harp" Quartet, Opus 74, sharing the same key and recalling its adagio introduction.
Composition History
The String Quartet in E flat, Opus 12, was composed by Mendelssohn in 1829 when he was not yet twenty-one, and was published in November 1830.
Performer Biography
The Aurora String Quartet, praised as "among the Pacific elite" by The New York Times, consists of members who are also long-time members of the San Francisco Symphony.
