Mendelssohn: The String Quartets

- As a composer of chamber music Mendelssohn claims greatness almost without qualification. The String Quartet Op.44 No.2 Is generally considered to be Mendelssohn's best work in this genre.

- Although the Four Pieces Op.81 suggest a complete string quartet, the first two movements are from Mendelssohn's year of death, 1847, and the two other pieces date from an earlier period.

- This performance by the excellent Raphael Quartet is the first CD recording of the Four Pieces, Op.81. 

The Raphael Quartet consists of four string players from the first desks of various orchestras of the Netherlands Broadcasting Corporation. In the summer of 1981 they banded together to form a string Quartet which they named after the great Italian sculptor, painter and architect Raphael. The repertoire of the Raphael Quartet, which became the official String Quartet of the Dutch radio network in 1983, ranges from Haydn to Shostakovich. Appearances all over the world have led to great public and critical acclaim and their Globe debut CD (GLO 5013 - Mendelssohn String Quartets) has met with great succes.