Two of the world’s leading string quartets, the Ebène and the Belcea, come together to perform octets written 75 years apart by two phenomenally gifted teenage composers: Felix Mendelssohn and George Enescu. Of the concert of the Mendelssohn and Enescu octets in Philadelphia in November 2024, The Strad said: “The phrase ‘luxury casting’ gets tossed around a lot, but seemed entirely appropriate here, as these two distinguished groups effortlessly fused their expertise – and had a blast doing it. The gutsy results had many people in the audience standing before the interval…” Born in Romania, George Enescu was just 18 and living in Paris when he wrote his octet in 1900, while Mendelssohn was even younger – a mere 16 years old – when he composed his octet in 1825 as a birthday gift for his violin teacher. If Mendelssohn’s mastery played a defining role in music of the 19th century, Enescu, as an emblematic figure of the earlier 20th century, is remarkable for his synthesis of influences … Viennese, German and French, all imbued with the spirit of Romanian folk music.