The Escher Quartet replaced their cellist last month, and it will be interesting to hear whether the new lineup will affect their sound in the rest of their Mendelssohn cycle – this is the first disc in a planned series of three. If it doesn’t, all to the good: as recorded here, the Eschers sound warm, relaxed and responsive to all of Mendelssohn’s expressive nuances. Based in New York, the quartet are former BBC New Generation Artists, and proteges of the Emersons. They lavish full, red-blooded tone on the slow movement of the genial Quartet No 1, and in the restless Quartet No 4 they keep the momentum striving forward, with first violinist Adam Barnett-Hart spinning long, seamless phrases. In the middle comes the unnumbered E flat major quartet, written when Mendelssohn was 14, and if it finds the composer aping his elders, it’s a proficient and at times inspired imitation that they would definitely have found flattering.
