Mendelssohn: Complete String Quartets, Vol. 2 Quatuor Van Kuijk

• Felix Mendelssohn (1809 - 1847): String Quartet No. 6 in F Minor, Op. 80:
• 1 Mendelssohn: String Quartet No. 6 in F Minor, Op. 80: I. Allegro vivace assai 07:08
• 2 Mendelssohn: String Quartet No. 6 in F Minor, Op. 80: II. Allegro assai 04:29
• 3 Mendelssohn: String Quartet No. 6 in F Minor, Op. 80: III. Adagio 09:11
• 4 Mendelssohn: String Quartet No. 6 in F Minor, Op. 80: IV. Finale. Allegro molto 05:26
• String Quartet No. 4 in E Minor, Op. 44 No. 2:
• 5 Mendelssohn: String Quartet No. 4 in E Minor, Op. 44 No. 2: I. Allegro assai appassionato 09:23
• 6 Mendelssohn: String Quartet No. 4 in E Minor, Op. 44 No. 2: II. Scherzo. Allegro di molto 03:42
• 7 Mendelssohn: String Quartet No. 4 in E Minor, Op. 44 No. 2: III. Andante 06:22
• 8 Mendelssohn: String Quartet No. 4 in E Minor, Op. 44 No. 2: IV. Presto agitato 06:15
• String Quartet No. 5 in E-Flat Major, Op. 44 No. 3:
• 9 Mendelssohn: String Quartet No. 5 in E-Flat Major, Op. 44 No. 3: I. Allegro vivace 09:40
• 10 Mendelssohn: String Quartet No. 5 in E-Flat Major, Op. 44 No. 3: II. Scherzo. Assai leggiero vivace 03:54
• 11 Mendelssohn: String Quartet No. 5 in E-Flat Major, Op. 44 No. 3: III. Adagio non troppo 08:31
• 12 Mendelssohn: String Quartet No. 5 in E-Flat Major, Op. 44 No. 3: IV. Molto allegro con fuoco 08:51
• Total Runtime 01:22:52

Info for Mendelssohn: Complete String Quartets, Vol. 2

After a first volume praised by the press, including an Editor’s Choice in Gramophone, the Quatuor Van Kuijk concludes its complete recording of Mendelssohn’s string quartets with op.44 nos. 2 and 3 and the Quartet op.80, which bears the mark of the sudden death in 1847 of his sister Fanny, to whom he was very close, at the age of only forty-two. As Stéphane Goldet writes in the booklet: ‘The act of resistance that is the Quartet op.80, written in a single burst during the summer of 1847, its overwhelming “No, not that, not her!” shouted by four instruments for twenty-five minutes, was to be the composer’s last completed work. The four movements of this “confrontation with grief” (Bernard Fournier) in F minor are to be played con dolore, although that marking never appears in the score.’ She goes on to quote Brigitte François-Sappey: ‘This “Requiem for Fanny” might be called “Death and the Young Woman”. As in Schubert’s last two quartets, the strings shiver in tremolos over ostinato pedals, like death knells.’

Quatuor Van Kuijk

Van Kuijk Quartet
Founded in 2012, in Paris, the Van Kuijk Quartet recently won the 2015 Wigmore Hall String Quartet Competition, along with the associated Best Beethoven and Best Haydn prizes.

In the few years since the quartet first formed, they have found success throughout Europe: as well as triumphing at the Wigmore Hall, the quartet won the 1st Prize and Audience Award at the Trondheim International Chamber Music Competition, in Norway, and are also laureates of the Aix-en-Provence Festival Academy and the FNAPEC Ensembles Music Competition, both in France.

The Van Kuijk Quartet is in residence at Proquartet, Paris, where they study with members of the Alban Berg, Artemis and Hagen quartets. Having taken their first steps as students of the Ysaye Quartet, the young musicians now study with Günter Pichler at the Escuela Superior de Mùsica Reina Sofia in Madrid; their studies take place thanks to the generous support of the International Institute of Chamber Music of Madrid.

The quartet also participates in various academies; they have taken part in the McGill International String Quartet Academy (Montreal) with Michael Tree of the Guarneri Quartet and André Roy ; the 58th Weikersheim International Chamber Music Academy with the Vogler Quartet and Heime Müller, formerly of the Artemis Quartet; and others academies in Aix-en-Provence and Verbier.

An established presence in major international venues, the Van Kuijk Quartet has performed at the Salle Gaveau in Paris, the Wigmore Hall in London, and at festivals in Heidelberg, Verbier, Aix-en Provence and Stavanger. This summer, they will take part in the Tivoli Concert Series in Denmark and the Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival in Austria.

Booklet for Mendelssohn: Complete String Quartets, Vol. 2