Mendelssohn emotionally superficial?  If you're trying to compare him
to, say, the last movement of Tchaikovsky's Pathetique, or Shostakovich's
8th string quartet, then perhaps, although I'd contend that Mendelssohn's
F Minor Quartet, Op 80, plumbs the depths of emotion in a very similar
way, and *for its time*.  I think, too, that we tend to think "emotional"
means sadness, depression, despair and so on, but it can also mean
exhilaration, joy and any number of positive emotions, and Mendelssohn's
music has these in spades.  Try the opening of the String Quartet, Op
44/2, or the opening of the Octet.  If you're looking for music to cut
your throat by, then Mendelssohn may not be quite your man, but he might
well persuade you not to.

Richard Pennycuick