As Squirrel writes, "These guys deliver some of the finest quartet playing on record, with a particularly gorgeous, elegant sound – thanks in no small part to the complete set of ex-Paganini Stradivarius instruments on which they performed."
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| Signage for an Ann Arbor concert |
As in all its incarnations, the quartet was led by violinist Henri Temianka. Second violinist Gustave Rosseels also was a founding member of the ensemble, which here also includes cellist Lucien LaPorte and violist Charles Foidart.
The quartet, founded in 1946, had recorded for RCA Victor and briefly for Decca before making this recording for Liberty circa 1957. Judging by its catalogue number, it might be the first classical LP issued on that label - one of the few that Liberty ever offered.
The sound is good. The Schumann was very clean, with the Britten more problematic, and some occasional minor noise remains on that side.
I'll also be transferring the Paganini's recording of Beethoven's Op. 59, No. 1 Rasumovsky quartet, at some future time.
