By Nancy Plum

It would be hard to choose who was the greater teenaged composer — Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart or Felix Mendelssohn. The prodigious musical childhood of Mozart has long been documented, but the works of the young Mendelssohn were no less remarkable. The New York City-based Renaissance String Quartet brought one of Mendelssohn’s early works to life in a concert last Thursday night at McCarter Theatre Center’s Matthews Theatre. Violinists Randall Goosby and Jeremiah Blacklow, violist Jameel Martin, and cellist Daniel Hass played Mendelssohn’s youthful String Quartet No. 1 in E-flat Major in an evening beginning with the early 19th century and ending with a composer born almost at the turn of the 21st century.

The Renaissance Quartet’s inventive approach to chamber music was evident from the moment the musicians came onstage. The Quartet began Mendelssohn’s first published work —emphasizing a sadness in the opening “Adagio” — with expressive motivic gestures which may have been meant as a tribute to the recently deceased Beethoven. The Quartet musicians kept chipper passages bright, with violist Martin bringing out lush melodic lines. The second movement “Canzonetta” reflected Mendelssohn’s ballet A Midsummer Night’s Dream, with an elfin middle section abounding with fluttering fairies in the violins. The Quartet showed its playful side in this music, but never lost the required rhythmic precision.

First violinist Goosby had a chance to shine in the subsequent “Andante,” with a lyrical aria-like melody, leading the other players in the emotional impact. There were numerous passages of agitated playing, and all four instrumentalists were uniform in the quick bowings. Mendelssohn again showed his affinity for Beethoven in the final movement, with “false” cadences complemented by an expressive solo violin soliloquy by Goosby to bring the charming Quartet to a close.

Leoš Janácek’s String Quartet No. 1, subtitled Kreutzer Sonata, was his first foray into the genre, musically telling a hair-raising story drawn from a Leo Tolstoy novel. Tolstoy’s 1889 The Kreutzer Sonata was a tale of Russian love, jealousy and murder, which Janácek set in four movements from the unusual perspective of a murdered wife. The Renaissance Quartet opened the programmatic work with an ominous duet between first violin and viola, punctuated by restless cello. All four instruments traded around the pathos of the story, with each musician having their turn with the unsettling commentary.

Consistent throughout the piece was a driving ostinato representing the train on which much of the action took place. Violinists Goosby and Blacklow provided poignant melodies, as the train kept rolling along in persistent rhythm. Cellist Hass played a particularly rich line in the closing movement as the victim in Tolstoy’s murderous narrative became resigned to her fate.

Composing for string quartet has been part of music history for hundreds of years, and Renaissance Quartet cellist Daniel Hass has continued the tradition into the 21st century. Hass’ String Quartet No. 1: “Love and Levity” was premiered by his Quartet colleagues in 2023, and has added a work of diverse musical languages to the repertory. Beginning with a hymn-like introduction, this Quartet reflected a bit of everything in its roots, including jazz, minimalism and exotic melodic writing. First violinist Goosby led the second movement “Hermit’s Waltz” with a dramatic melody, also demonstrating quick and lithe playing in more demanding passages.

The third movement “Largo” was especially appealing in its scoring for mostly upper strings, with cellist Hass punctuating the sound. The Quartet built intensity through a repeating melodic fragment, contrasted by chordal string writing. The closing movement “hoe-down” was pure exuberance, with Goosby and violist Martin driving the vitality of the bluegrass-like music. This movement in particular combined musical styles, with chordal playing from the lower strings against agitated first violin lines to close Hass’ imaginative work. With several well-established string ensembles recently retiring, the Renaissance String Quartet, with its fresh and energetic style, well proved on Thursday night that they are ready to step to the forefront of chamber music performance.