Arnold Mendelssohn was the second cousin of Felix Mendelssohn and was best known as a composer of lieder. Among his compositions are many choral pieces, folk songs, string quartets, sonatas, and operas. His sacred choral works launched the renewal of Lutheran church music. The German music encyclopedia MGG calls him “one of the most prominent figures of his day, a musician and man of great breadth of vision.” Later in life he wrote several of his most mature works, mostly in a chamber format. Among them are the strings quartets on our CD, both written in 1916 in an expressive late-romantic style.