The String Quartet in E flat major featured on this CD is known as opus 12. However, it is actually Felix Mendelssohn’s third quartet, and was composed two years after opus 13 during a long and successful visit to England in 1829. By far the best-known movement is the Canzonetta, which is also frequently performed as an independent work. The quartet is cyclic, and themes heard in previous movements make their reappearance in the finale. Mendelssohn composed his quintet opus 18 at the age of seventeen and his admiration for his idol Beethoven is once again evident in the finale where the opening displays clear similarities with the final movement of Beethoven’s quartet opus 18 no 1.
The Matangi Quartet was founded in 1999 by four young musicians then studying at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague and the Conservatory of Rotterdam. In 2003 the group completed the two-year, full-time course at the Netherlands String Quartet Academy under the direction of Stefan Metz (cellist of the Orlando Quartet). Whilst at the Academy, the Matangi Quartet also had the opportunity to take lessons from international renowned musicians, including the members of the Amadeus Quartet. In addition the quartet have received intensive mentoring for several years from the violist of Schönberg Quartet, Henk Guittart. In 2002 they were awarded the prestigious Kersjes van de Groenekan Award, an annual prize awarded to exceptional chamber music talent in the Netherlands, and in 2008 the quartet won third prize at the International Joseph Joachim Chamber Music Competition in Weimar. The group is joined in the String Quintet by Viola player Edith van Moergastel.
