Quartetto Italiano early recordings 1946 1952 Italian quartet Debussy Boccherini Beethoven Mozart Haydn

Last year, in the same week as David Bowie, the last founder of the famous Italian Quartet “Quartetto Italiano” died; Elisa Pegreff, at the age of 93. Married to the first violinist (and rumored to have had an affair with all the other members) she stayed in the quartet from it’s formation in 1945 till disbandment in 1980. I was curious what the first recording of the quartet was and stumbled upon a box with the earliest recordings of the quartet. Even the 1946 78rpm set with “the reason” the quartet started in the first place, Debussy’s string quartet. 

The sound of the earliest recordings is a bit harsh, but just sample track 07, the 1948 slow movement of the Luigi Boccherini quartet in D; what a breathtaking beauty in that recording. The metadata was (of course) not there on Spotify, so I gathered the recording information from several websites with discographical information. Enjoy the exploration of the early recordings of the Quartetto Italiano…!

-Track 01-04: Claude Debussy: String Quartet in G minor, Op. 10

Conservatorio G.Verdi, Milano (Italia) - 14-20 march 1946

Issued on Telefunken 78rpm’s 1946

-Track 05: Leonardo Vinci: Gavotta da 6 Antiche Danze (from «12 Soli per Violino e Arpicordo»)

Conservatorio G.Verdi, Milano (Italia) 4 mai 1946

Issued on Telefunken 78rpm 1946

Lionello Forzanti plays the viola here, he was replaced by Piero Farulli in 1947

-Track 06-08: Luigi Boccherini: String Quartet in D major, Op. 8 No. 1, G 165

Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Roma (Italia) - 11 & 20 november 1948

Issued on Decca LXT 2680 in 1952

-Track 09-12: Franz Joseph Haydn: String Quartet in E flat major, Op. 64 No. 6 (Hob. III:64)

Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Roma (Italia) - 11 november 1948

Issued on Decca LXT 2680 in 1952

-Track 13-16: Ludwig van Beethoven: String Quartet in C major, Op. 59 No. 3 «Rasumovsky No. 3»

West Hampstead Studios, London - 28 november 1949

Issued on Decca LXT 2679 in 1952

-Track 17: Franz Schubert: Quartettsatz in C minor, D 703

West Hampstead Studios, London - 28 e 29 november 1949

Issued on Decca LXT 2679 in 1952

-Track 18-21: Robert Schumann: String Quartet in F major, Op. 41 No. 2

West Hampstead Studios, London - 27-29 november 1950

Issued on Decca LXT 2691 in 1952

-Track 22-25: Giuseppe Verdi: String Quartet in E minor

West Hampstead Studios, London - 24, 27-29 november 1950

Issued on Decca LXT 2691 in 1952

-Track 26-28: Giuseppe Tartini: Sonata a quattro in G major

Recorded live, Teatro Eliseo, Roma (Italia) - 29 gennaio 1951

-Track 29-32: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Clarinet Quintet in A major, K 581

Antoine de Bavier, Clarinet

West Hampstead Studios, London - 8-20 & 22 February 1952

Issued on Decca LXT 2698 in 1952

-Track 33-36: Franz Joseph Haydn: String Quartet in G major, Op. 77 No. 1 (Hob. III:81)

Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Roma (Italia) - 1-10 July 1952

Issued on Decca LXT 2811 in 1954

-Track 37-39: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: - String Quartet in D major, K 155 

Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Roma (Italia) - 1-10 July 1952

Issued on Decca LXT 2852 in 1954

-Track 40-41: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: - Adagio and Fugue in C minor for String Quartet, K 546

Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Roma (Italia) - 1-10 July 1952

Issued on Decca LXT 2853 in 1954

-Track 42-45: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: - String Quartet in C major, K 465 

«Dissonances» 

Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Roma (Italia) - 1-10 July 1952

Issued on Decca LXT 2853 in 1954

-Track 46-49: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: - String Quartet in F major, K 590

Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Roma (Italia) - 1-10 July 1952

Issued on Decca LXT 2852 in 1954

-Track 50-53: Ludwig van Beethoven: - String Quartet in B flat major, Op. 18 No. 6 

Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Roma (Italia) - 1-10 July 1952

Issued on Decca LXT 2811 in 1954

-Track 54-57: Ludwig van Beethoven: - String Quartet in F major, Op. 59 No. 1 «Rasumovsky No. 1»

Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Roma (Italia) - 20-30 July 1952

Issued on Decca LXT 2856 in 1954

-Track 58-61: Franz Schubert: - String Quartet in B flat major, D 112 (Op. 168)

Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Roma (Italia) - 20-30 July 1952

Issued on Decca LXT 2855 in 1954

-Track 62-65: Franz Schubert: - String Quartet in A minor, D 804 (Op. 29 No. 1) «Rosamunde»

Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Roma (Italia) - 20-30 July 1952

Issued on Decca LXT 2854 in 1954

(Nuovo) Quartetto Italiano

Paolo Borciani, violino I

Elisa Pegreffi, violino II

Piero Faruli viola

Franco Rossi, violoncello

https://open.spotify.com/user/otterhouse/playlist/4wWSZQwN1kgmaR7YJEMnIw

(WEBPLAYER LINK)

Quartetto Italiano

Scandal at the Queen Elisabeth competition Vladimir Sverdlov on Spotify

Queen Elisabethcompetition 1999 and a young brat called Vladimir Sverdlov played the Schubert of his lifetime. Awesome, inspiring, poetic. Everybody was convinced he would win or, at least, be in the top three of the competition. When his *sixth* place was announced (see the video here) he was so upset that the handshakes and flowers were tossed away…

Sverdlov, nephew of pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy, by the way, sort of apologized and went on with his career. The very individualistic approach continued as well, working very well in Chopin’s mazurkas and nocturnes, rather less in the sonata, but what stays is the inheritance of the magnificent Schubert sonata D784 Sverdlov played in 1999, luckily preserved on Spotify!

Franz Schubert (1797-1828)

-Piano sonata in a minor D784

(live, Brussels, 1999)

Frederic Chopin (1810-1849)

-Mazurkas op 68 no 2 and op 33 no 4

-Nocturnes op 27 no 2 and op 48 no 1

-Preludes op 28 no 15 to 24

-Ballade no 1 op 23

-Sonata no 2 op 35

-Prelude op posthume

Vladimir Sverdlov, piano

https://open.spotify.com/user/otterhouse/playlist/4KgDFo36IHZYbX5Mm0BvoF

(HTTP link, if you want to play the list on the Spotify Webplayer)

One angry young man...

My first classical CD's

These were my first three classical CD’s (curious to know what were yours!)

Ivo Pogorelich and Claudio Abbado play Chopin’s 2nd piano concerto

Didn’t know it at that time, but this is a maverick performance. At Ivo’s entrance, its like he wants to smash through the piano. But between the glitter and willful playing there is also an overdose of poetry, that made him so attractive in the 1980’s. A girl in my class said she liked the 2nd movement so much and exactly that movement is one of the highlights of this cd, the first CD I ever bought.

The Hagen Quartet plays Schubert.

In the mid 1980’s (still in college then), CD’s were expensive. Extremely expensive for a teenager, and I was thrilled that a local CD shop offered this CD not for 52 Guilders (living in Holland), but 35 guilders. Still a lot of money, but absolutely worth it. The well known Rosamunde quartet is coupled with a lesser known youth work by Schubert, but the real gem here is the tension laten “Quartetsatz”, an unfinished string quartet in c-minor. I think this was the first CD by the still existing Hagen Quartet. 

Collin Davis and Nobuko Imai play Berlioz

In my class, there was a girl ho played viola, and I was very much in love with her (not saying it to her, of course;-) that the obvious third choice was this CD with the Harold en Italie symphony for orchestra and viola. Read in the Gramophone magazine what “the best” performance was and bought it. As an extra, there were some early choral works and an instrumental from the opera “les Troyens” on it, making it a “full” CD. That mattered, at the time, as with Spotify it doesn’t matter anymore if a CD is 44 minutes (the Chopin above) of 74 minutes (the Berlioz), you pay the same for the music…

Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)

-Piano Concerto No. 2 in f minor op 21

-Polonaise op. 44 f# minor

Ivo Pogorelich

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Claudio Abbado, conductor

1983

Franz Schubert (1797-1828)

-String quartet in a minor op 29 D804 “Rosamunde”

-String quartet in Eb major op 125 nr 1 D87

-String quartet movement in c minor D703 “Quartettsatz”

Hagen Quartet (Veronica, Lucas and Clemens Hagen, plus at that moment the Dutch violinist Anette Bik)

1984

Hector Berlioz (1803-1869)

-Harold en Italie, Op.16, H.68

Nobuko Imai, viola

-Tristia op 18

John Alldis Choir

-Les Troyens, act 3, Prélude

London Symphony Orchestra, 

Colin Davis, conductor

1976/69

https://open.spotify.com/user/otterhouse/playlist/241WmgYg6sUXeXRYWp9gOo

(HTTP link)

Still have them ;-)