Leipziger Streichquartett . Duo Tal & Groethuysen

Imagine one pianist with twenty fingers - well, that's how the Israeli-German duo Yaara Tal and Andreas Groethuysen sound. The sublime Leipziger Streich quartet also needs no introduction. The offerings from both ensembles to the Mendelssohn year couple an original string quartet with transcriptions made by Mendelssohn himself and by the famous arranger of the time, Carl Burchard. As far as transcriptions go today, it is fairly easy to look down on them, treating them as if they were second rank counterfeits. However, sound systems, CDs and the Internet allow us to listen to the original score just about any time and anywhere. In Mendelssohn's day that was of course not the case. Transcriptions were often the only way to become acquainted with new compositions. Who had an orchestra at their disposal to listen through a symphony? These sparkling performances will utterly convince you that the transcription need not be inferior to the original.