Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809-1847)
Quatuor pour piano n° 1 en do mineur, op. 1
Quatuor pour piano n° 2 en fa mineur, op. 2
Quatuor pour piano n° 3 en si mineur, op. 3
Quatuor pour piano n° 4 en ré mineur, MWV Q 10

Quartetto Klimt

Matteo Fossi, piano
Duccio Ceccanti, violon
Edoardo Rosadini, alto
Alice Gabbiani, violoncelle

Œuvres de prime jeunesse (une douzaine d'années) d'un jeune prodige, les deux premiers quatuors avec piano Op.1 et 2 de Félix Mendelssohn possèdent déjà quelques touches personnelles mais sont grandement redevables de l'influence des maîtres : Hummel, évidemment Haydn et Mozart qui composa pour la même formation (K 478 – 493) on trouve d'ailleurs dans l'Op.1 une citation de la sonate K 457. Le troisième Quatuor Op.3 valut ce mot fameux de Chérubini qui l'entendit à Paris « Ce garçon est riche, il fera bien mais il dépense trop de son argent». Fruits d'un compositeur qui a déjà assimilé l'héritage Sturm und Drang, l’œuvre se caractérise par l 'élégance de l'écriture et l'ingéniosité des développements. Mendelssohn sait y glisser des îlots de tendresse (Andante) et des moments d'intense virtuosité (Scherzo). Formé en 1995 à Fiesole, le Quartetto Klimt possède une solide expérience des concerts. Son brio, son naturel et sa volubilité évoquent bien souvent les quatuors légendaires tel le quatuor Amadeus version princeps, qualités primordiales pour animer ces partitions charmantes et gorgées d'une sève irrésistible. (Jérôme Angouillant)

Early, little-known, free-spirited chamber works from music’s supreme teenage genius. By the time Felix Mendelssohn composed his first three opus-numbered works he had a substantial catalogue of chamber, vocal and orchestral works to his credit – all at the age of 15! This trio of piano quartets predates the miraculous Octet for strings, yet each of them holds its distinct appeal. A fluent grasp of form and voicing can be taken for granted in one already thoroughly schooled in compositional technique. Mendelssohn was still finding his own voice, melodically speaking, while emerging from the shadow of Mozart’s and Beethoven’s, but these are already pieces with his fingerprints and no-one else’s, even in 1824, when Beethoven and Schubert were still alive. Even the Opp. 1-3 are predated by another piano quartet, composed in 1821 by the 12-year-old Mendelssohn. He deemed it unfit for publication, but its relative brevity demonstrates that the teenage composer already had both the intuition and the talent to write within strict self-imposed boundaries: he does not waste notes, even in the finales which fizz with fun. Outside complete box-sets of the composer’s music the Piano Quartets are rarely encountered on disc, making this fine new recording an even more attractive acquisition for Mendelssohn fans and enthusiasts for early-Romantic chamber rarities. Formed in 1995, the Quartetto Klimt is an Italian ensemble with an impressive record of appearances at prestigious festivals based at home and abroad and long experience of teaching at chamber-music centres such as Fiesole and Livorno. This album marks their debut on Brilliant Classics.