Already Mature Newcomers

The latest free cover disk from BBC Music magazine features current BBC New Generation Artist scheme members the Elias Quartet. Recorded live at Wigmore Hall, it is a solid selection of core repertoire, starting with Haydn's String Quartet Op 64 no 6, progressing to Mendelssohn's String Quintet no 2 Op 87 where they are augmented by violist Malin Bronman and backtracking to Schubert's ten minute Quartettsatz. One or two contemporaries were also looking at the string quartet form around the time that Haydn was but it is his body of work in the form that was really responsible for establishing it and it is a typically classically proportioned piece played here. Mendelssohn is taking the form towards the height of the romantic era by way of contrast. But it is the Schubert piece that perhaps carries the most emotional depth, packing much into the brief one movement span. It is obvious why it is a favourite with performers despite the problem its' length poses in programming. Alhtough given "newcomer" status, the Elias have been playing together for over ten years since student days and are already approaching musical maturity.