Mendelssohn's Legendary Octet for Strings

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Felix Mendelssohn, the child of a wealthy Jewish merchant family (which was pressured to convert to Lutheranism) was a musical prodigy.  His wealthy parents were patrons of the Arts, and encouraged young Felix (and his older sister Fanny) to pursue their musical talents from a very early age.  The engraving on the right is the representation of him that is most convincing to me.

Felix began composing as a child, and at around the age of sixteen, produced one of the greatest jewels of German music, namely the Octet for Strings, for four violins, two violas, and two violoncellos ('cellos).  This is all I'm going to say about Mendelssohn; suffice it to add that he was instrumental in the revival of interest in Johann Sebastian Bach (who had died in 1750), with a performance of Bach's St Matthew Passion in Leipzig.  [More about Felix Mendelssohn at a later time.]

The Octet is an interesting piece in many ways.  Its performance generally requires two string quartets to cooperate, and given the busy lives of modern music professionals (and their competitiveness), this is a lot to expect.  [Some quartets, for instance the Emerson Quartet, have chosen to double-track themselves, playing all eight parts.  This seems a choice of doubtful wisdom.]  However, the music is so sublime that despite the fact that it has been performed by such great musicians that it is ever harder to contribute something new and different to the many treatments the work has received over the years, performers cannot resist trying.

I recently put a (copy of) my own Octet CD in my car stereo, and my ears complained.  I have been a fan of authentic period performance for many years, and I had bought the best performance I could afford, namely that by Hausmusik.  But now, because of age or the characteristics of my car speakers, I wanted something a little more mellow.  Gut strings are all very well, but it seemed to me that the idiom of Mendelssohn's Oktet would be equally well served by modern, steel-strung violins, violas and 'cellos, as well as it has been with period instruments.  (Often, with music, one sees a composition to do justice to which one needs a new kind of instrument.  At other times, one looks again at a composition, and wonders whether the old instruments might have been better, after all.  You have to keep searching.)

At any rate, I went to the Amazon website, where I could compare different recordings, and here is what I found.

Auer & Kodaly String Quartets (Naxos, paired with Max Bruch Octet)
Good sound; first movement a little slower than most (14:16); mellow sound; excellent playing all round.

Jascha Heifetz & Co. (Sony, paired with the Mozart G minor Quintet)
Good sound with extraordinary stereo separation; brilliant phrasing. Mellow sound, simply because it is an older recording, and the frequency range is smaller.  Still, an exciting performance, and the one I chose to buy.

Academy of St Martin in the Fields Chamber Ensemble, with the late Iona Brown (Philips, paired with one of the Mendelssohn String Quintet, also a wonderful piece)
Good sound, and excellent playing as always.  (The Academy rose to prominence with their recordings with amazing string playing with modern instruments, and later their interest in historically informed performance albeit still with modern instruments.)  Very reasonable speeds; e.g. the first movement is almost as deliberate as the Naxos recording (13:56).  The composer's speed indication is "Moderato, ma con fuoco" which means, as you might guess, "At a moderate speed, but with fire."  Unfortunately, the idea of fieriness is often conflated with the idea of high velocity, and it's interesting how different ensembles deal with the composers apparently conflicting indications.

Hausmusik (EMI, paired with two Mendelssohn Quintets, and Quartet No. 2)
I might not have exactly this recording, but I do own Mendelssohn's Octet by Hausmusik.  The playing there (and in the little Amazon website clip) display an edgy playing to which I was trying to find an alternative; hence this exploration.  On a large stereo system, the edgy playing sounds plausible and interesting, but in the car (where I do a lot of listening) the playing sounds just a little more harsh than I would like.  Given that the sound is a little harsh (as if they were playing close to the bridge, for extra brilliance), the playing is excellent.  After all, Monica Huggett and her troops must have reasoned, Mendelssohn played melodiously is a bit of a cliché.

Melos Ensemble of London--Is there another one? (EMI, Paired with Beethoven Septet and Octet, and the Schubert Octet for wind and strings)
A great recording and performance.  I'm just beginning to notice that these more traditional performances manage to allow the first violin to soar just a bit more than the more modern (authentic) performances such as that or Hausmusik.  In the Hausmusik performance, all eight parts are defiantly equal, while my ear seems to prefer that the first violin should be allowed a little space (in complete contrast to my usual preference in most matters).  The first movement here is the most restrained in pace of all: 14:47.  This double album might be the choice for people with a conventional ear and taste.

Whew.  There are so many recordings that I'm running out of steam.

Some of the recordings on Amazon are of orchestras playing the Octet.  This one is an transcription of the first movement.  The Octet --in particular the third movement Scherzo-- is so popular that it has been transcribed for full string orchestra (which is not hard; you just need to give one of the 'cello lines to the Basses) and even full orchestra, with flutes and clarinets and stuff.  The Academy has recorded it this way, and it sounds fabulous, but of course it's not the same.  Here's a transcription of the third movement:


The Russian string orchestral version is a little wild; I guess they took the "con fuoco" to heart.  (But is it Art?)

I'll possibly add more to this post, but this is an exhausting topic, and probably of interest only to a few readers!  Go to it, kids; you can't go wrong with one more copy of The Octet!

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