Recordings of the old Fine Arts Quartet

[Xenophanes]

I said I was going to get them and I did. I couldn't be more pleased. I sort of expected this because I have long had a few LPs of the FAQ on Concert-Disc LPs. 

First, the Mozart and Brahms Clarinet Quintets performed by the FAQ and clarinetist Reginald Kell. Sorry, the image was not brought over when I tried the new Amazon ASIN method, so I used the old insert image method.



These are beautifully performed and recorded, even though it was 1958.  The sound is warm and wonderful, and the position of the instruments is clear.

Second, the Fine Arts Quartet at WFMT 1967-73.

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I haven't traversed all 8 CDs yet, but the Beethoven Opus. 59 Qts. are very well done and the sound is beautiful.

Finally, the 6 Bartok String Quartets, with the voice only commentary on Quartet No. 1 at the end of the third CD. The notes say that they did 20 broadcasts for National Educational TV in 1958-59, but only master tape in good enough shape was their comments on Quartet No. 1. With three CDs so play around with, they could actually program them in order from 1 to 6.

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I've never really gotten into the Bartok Quartets, though I have a couple of other recordings.  What I have heard so far sounds interesting. If anyone can make me like them, they can.

[snyprrr]

Is the 'new' group the one on Naxos (did they also do Wolf?)?


I have always prized that Wuorinen/Babbitt Music&Arts disc, especially the way they convey the absolute and totally dry, clinical quality of the music, the most rarified strict serialism I have yet heard. Pure laboratory! I'm only slowly getting the Wuorinen, seeming to prefer his later chamber music.

Based simply on the strength of their ability did I seek out the Seymour Schifrin SQ No.4 (1966-67). It is very much in the '30s Schoenberg/Bartok mold (Arthur Berger pops in view), with of course a bit more rhythmic freedom. Check out the interesting pizz mvmt.  The playing just has that feeling of the time, totally in to it man.

I believe all these recordings,... oh, is there a Husa recording too? If that's them, that's another essential. Very gritty Avant Bartok.

Wish they had recorded more High Moderism!

[Peregrine]

There is also a fine Haydn, Op.74 available from HaydnHouse (scroll about 2/3 down the page) -

http://www.haydnhouse.com/HH18.htm

[Brian]

Is the 'new' group the one on Naxos (did they also do Wolf?)?

According to their biography, the Fine Arts Quartet has had the same name for 65 years, but the current line-up includes three members who have been in the quartet for over 30 years. The "new" Fine Arts Quartet can therefore be said to have come about in the late 1970s!

[Xenophanes]

According to their biography, the Fine Arts Quartet has had the same name for 65 years, but the current line-up includes three members who have been in the quartet for over 30 years. The "new" Fine Arts Quartet can therefore be said to have come about in the late 1970s!

I would probably put it a little later. According to the notes in The Fine Arts Quartet at WFMT, Unreleased recordings of broadcast performances 1967-73, written by Abram Loft, the older era of the quartet ended about 1979-80, when cellist Leonard Sopkin and violinist Abram Loft left the quartet.  The website speaks of the Sorkin-Sopkin era, and lists Leonard Sorkin's participation until 1982.  I suppose the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee still wanted a quartet in residence and so it was a great opportunity for the musicians who joined it. Of course, by their nature, ensembles, including string quartets, are subject to changes in membership. By 1983,  the membership stabilized, although the FAQ seems always to have had a certain amount of turnover in violists!

http://www.fineartsquartet.org/hist.html

The recordings I have are definitely in the Sorkin-Sopkin era. The Six Bartok Quartets and  the Mozart and Brahms Clarinet Quintets were recorded in 1958, and of course, the others were recorded from 1967-1973. The several LPs of them I have seem to have been recorded in the early '60s.  I did not appreciate them or perhaps even know about them when I lived in the Chicago area, so I suppose this is catching up for lost time.

I have not really listened to more recent recordings of the Fine Arts Quartet done since Sorkin, Sopkin, Loft and Zaslav left. The current quartet is apparently still very good and plays all over the world.

[snyprrr]

Are we Bartok SQ experts? How would we rate the FAQ overall in the Bartok SQ sweepstakes?

[Xenophanes]

Are we Bartok SQ experts? How would we rate the FAQ overall in the Bartok SQ sweepstakes?

I'm not a Bartok SQ expert. I've never managed to really like the Bartok Quartets yet, though they are interesting.  We have been having the youngest grand daughter (17 months) in during the day and sometimes overnight.  We have been playing mostly children's CDs with all sorts of songs such as "Bingo" and "The Cat Came Back," so I haven't gotten around to serious listening to the Fine Arts Quartet's recording yet. Casual listening indicates they are easier to listen to than the versions by the Novak and Takacs quartets.  So far, the FAQ seems easier to listen to.  When I get the chance, I can listen to the Fine Arts Quartet's recordings and compare them with the recordings by the Novak Quartet and the Takacs Quartet.  In the process, I might even get to like the Bartok Quartets.