─ 葛林戈斯四重奏
─ 梅塔4四重奏

在孟德爾頌於1825年寫了弦樂八重奏之前, 只有路易斯.史博曾編寫過類似此樂器組合的作品. 但與其說是一首八重奏, 史博的作品其實是一個寫給同等而且獨立的兩個四重奏弦樂團的”雙”四重奏. 在另一方面, 孟德爾頌將八件樂器視為一個整體, 他自己解釋是以’交響樂團的風格合作’. 他在年僅16歲時就寫了充滿了年輕時熱情的八重奏, , 因此成為他最受歡迎的作品之一. 此作品是向莫札特式風格的告別也是他早期作品的特色, 同時也是邁向浪漫主義的第一步.

此片的第二首八重奏是一件年輕時的作品, 寫在從浪漫主義到現代主義的過渡時期. 喬治.安奈斯可在1900年12月19歲時完成了C大調八重奏. 此作品是密集的, 複雜且高度的對位音樂(contrapuntal), 安奈斯可在某處描述這種音樂示範時說”我是一名天生的複調音樂家(polyphonist), 根本不是一位提倡漂亮和弦序列的人. 我對任何會停滯的事有一種恐懼. 對我而言, 音樂不是一種狀態而應該是一種行動…”. 這兩件作品在很少數的給弦樂八重奏樂器組合作品中是最好的幾首, 在此是由兩組現代最佳的四重奏表演: 葛林戈斯四重奏與梅塔4四重奏, 兩個樂團在更多樣化的曲目中都已經有眾多備受讚譽的錄音作品.

Before Felix Mendelssohnproduced his Octet for stringsin 1825, only Louis Spohrhad composed for a similar combination of instruments. Rather than an octet, however, Spohr’swork was a ‘double quartet’ written for two equal but independent string quartets. Mendelssohn, on the other hand, treated the eight instruments as a single unit, collaborating ‘in symphonic orchestral style’, as he himself put it. He was only sixteen when he composed the Octet, full of a youthful ardour that has made it one of his most popular works. It is a farewell to the Mozartianstyle that had characterized Mendelssohn’s early production and at the same time a first step on the way to Romanticism.

The second octet on this disc is also a youthful work written at a time of transition, now from Romanticism to Modernism: George Enescuwas 19 years old when he completed his Octet in C majorin December 1900. The work is concentrated, complex and highly contrapuntal, a sounding illustration of what Enescuelsewhere described in words: ‘I am by nature a polyphonist, not at all an advocate of sequences of pretty chords. I have a horror of anything that stagnates. For me, music is not a state but rather an action…’ Among the small number of works for this instrumental combination, these belong to the very finest, and are here performed by two of today’s leading quartets: the GringoltsQuartetand Meta4 have both made numerous acclaimed recordings in the most diverse repertoire.