Spohr, Louis (Ludwig): Quartets Nos.31/36 (Marco Polo Audio CD)

• This is the 14th volume in Marco Polo’s ongoing survey of the string quartets of Spohr, one of the greatest violinists of his day.

• Louis Spohr composed string quartets throughout his career, the String Quartet No. 36 being his last completed large-scale work, composed in 1857 and modelled on those of Haydn and Mozart. As a result of depression during his later years, Spohr embargoed its performance, but as this recording shows it is a work of consummate craftsmanship. His String Quartet No. 31 was composed eleven years earlier and found favour with Mendelssohn and Wagner for its tightly woven counterpoint and sophisticated character. The earliest piece here, the Potpourri No. 4, is a short virtuoso display piece that draws on favourite opera arias by his idol Mozart.

• “The tradition of giving so much prominence to the first violin does limit the expressive range, but Spohr handles it skilfully and inventively, both in display passages and in allowing the violin to take a lyrical, almost operatic lead. … Even Mendelssohn at his most fluent would surely have been pleased to have written the opening movement [of the First Quartet], and at his most elegant the Adagio.” Gramophone on Vol. 6.