Mendelssohn Piano quartet no 3

 Day 24

Mendelssohn Piano quartet in b minor op 3

Juho Pohjonen

Erin Keefe

Paul Neubauer

Narkek Hakhnazaryan

Any discussion of Mendelssohn's chamber music has to start with the Octet - surely one of the greatest examples of youthful genius anywhere in music. I've know and loved the Octet all my adult life. I've also know the string quartets reasonably well but the rest of Mendelssohn's chamber music is still there to explore.

His first published works with opus numbers are three piano quartets - this third was finished on 18 January 1825 - almost exactly 200 years ago. He was 15 when he wrote them, but you would never tell that from listening to them. There is an astonishing maturity to them - a complete mastery of the style and of the musical material. It is said that Mendelssohn's father was only prepared to support his son's musical education if professional musicians gave a positive endorsement to his composition, so this piece was tried out for the first time at the Paris Conservatoire, where the piano part was played by none other that Cherubini (somebody who will feature presently in this series) and the violin by Baillot, the foremost violin teacher of the first half of the 19th century. His father was clearly able to pull a few strings to get them to agree to play the piece through.

The piano quartet is an unusual format, particularly at this time. I suppose that Mendelssohn would have know the two quartets by Mozart but I doubt that he would have know the very early examples by Beethoven which were not published until 1828. Mendelssohn handles the ensemble with ease and refinement: while most of the time the three strings form a group to complement the piano there are all sorts of interesting textures.

The third movement is a typically whirlwind Mendelssohnian scherzo which is great fun. Perhaps the last movement is the weakest. The piano writing is virtuosic and does rather overpower the strings at time, and perhaps the movement is a bit long for the material. But all in all this was a very satisfying piece to listen to. Any composer of the early 19th century would have been proud to have written it - it really does stretch the imagination to get your head round the fact that it was written by a 15 year old.