...thrill audiences with the exuberance of their playing....The results are simpy wonderful... There is lightness and economy of purpose in the first violin’s melody, grounded by quarter-notes in the lower strings... The first violin takes charge of the adventuresome theme in the opening movement, its forte dynamics supported by ominous tremolos in the lower strings. The brief scherzo is made more attractive by superb fluidity and pace, enhanced by elegant pizzicati. Mendelssohn has been criticized, perhaps unfairly, for his conservative musical style. He saw no need to jettison the conventions we now term “classical” and attract attention to his music by indulging in “revolutionary” novelty à la Berlioz, and Wagner. Was he right in doing so? Certainly, he was a composer whose grasp was exactly equal to his reach, and the result can be very satisfying, especially in his memorable pictorial and expressive effects. Today, uninspired performances can make his music seem stodgy. Great ones, like the Harrington Quartet and Dunham give us in these recordings, bring out the lithesomeness, vitality, and unexpected depths of emotion that make his best music ever more revelant in today’s nervous world. READ MORE