The young Prince Ferdinand Ludwig Christian of Prussia (1772-1806), son of the youngest brother of the Prussian King Frederick the Great, must have been quite a guy. He died on the field of battle (Saalfeld) at age 34, having been the dedicatee of the Third Piano Concerto by his friend Beethoven (who admired his playing) but not before composing some excellent music that includes this sparkling pre-Mendelssohn Mendelssohnian piano quartet. It really is quite the marvel, and I defy anyone to say its quality is less than the companion work here by the very young Mendelssohn.
Felix of course wrote his work, along with two others of the same genre, when he was 14, having completed the first the year before and the last the year after. All were accorded much critical success, and like most early Mendelssohn these pieces display a maturity and emotive content far beyond the teenaged years. There is mastery in the instrumental writing that no other composer would ever demonstrate with such authority at such an age. These were, by the way, the first published efforts of the young composer.
The Valentin Piano Quartet, so-named for its reception of four chamber music scholarships in 1996 on Valentine’s Day, plays with romantic ardor and exceptionally rich tone while keeping things moving and not seeking to add too much interpretative angst to their readings (and there is plenty of opportunity for that). The surround sound is a little boomy in places but retains a well-groomed sonic spread that is most satisfying. If you want all three Mendelssohns you can do no better than Domus on Virgin, but then you would miss this most enlightening quartet by the young Prince.
— Steven Ritter
