A characteristically raw, urgent sound in this recording, one that captures the same distinctive sound discernible in their live performance.
The Norwegian-Swedish quartet Opus13, which took first prize at the Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition in 2025, have released their first album, making the work that inspired the ensemble’s name the first work on the release. Mendelssohn’s String Quartet No. 2, Opus 13 has a characteristically raw, urgent sound in this recording, one that captures the same distinctive sound discernible in their live performance (Cheltenham 2026, Thoroughly Good). Listen out for the crystal-clear upper register in first violinist Sonoko Miriam Welde’s tightly spun, sweet melodic lines in the opening movement. The second movement adagio possesses a heady concoction of teenage aspiration and trepidation. In the impish third movement intermezzo the finest of viola pedal notes is a deliciously sardonic musical hinge that tickles the senses every time it makes an appearance. The concluding presto maintains a solid approach throughout, still managing to cascade and career with youthful confidence and just a hint of operatic melodrama.
Opus13’s recording makes Grieg’s First Quartet sound a good deal less comfortable than the Piano Concerto or Peer Gynt would lead you to expect. Written in 1877–78, when the composer and his wife Nina were experiencing a crisis in their marriage, it covers a lot of emotional ground. Opus13 is a robust and thrilling match for the demands of the work, switching between tumult, tempestuous, and tender expression in a way that powers this performance with energy. Opus13’s razor-sharp playing underlines the edgier image Grieg is afforded by this work. The focused articulation in the final presto is another of Opus13’s calling cards: the smallest, often quietest, material working hard to expand a work for four instruments into something on a much larger scale.
