The Festival Quartet RCA Living Stereo Recordings
Greetings! As always, thank you for all of your insightful comments this past week!
This weekend, I'd like to visit the recordings of the Festival Quartet, a chamber music ensemble based in the United States that toured and recorded for RCA from the late 1950's to the early 1960's. The group was composed of these four artists:
- Szymon Goldberg, violin (1909-1993)
- William Primrose, viola (1904-1982)
- Nikolai Graudan, cello (1896-1964)
- Victor Babin, piano (1908-1972)
Unfortunately, not a lot has been written about the Festival Quartet outside of the liner notes of their records. The Quartet formed in the late 1950's after a series of summer music festivals held at Aspen, Colorado. In Nikolai Graudan's obituary in the New York Times, the group was referred to as the "Aspen Festival Quartet". Goldberg, Primrose, Graudan, and Babin were all artists-in-residence at Aspen and had frequently performed together there when they made the decision to form a quartet. Each of them had already had an established performing career prior to the group's formation:
- Szymon Goldberg, born in Poland, had his debut playing three concertos with the Berlin Philharmonic in 1924. He was concertmaster of the Dresden Philharmonic from 1925-1929, then served as concertmaster for the Berlin Philharmonic (under Furtwängler's direction) from 1930-1934. He became a naturalized citizen of the US in 1953 and taught at the Aspen Music School from 1951-1965.
- William Primrose, born in Scotland, performed with the London String Quartet from 1930-1935. He was a violist in the NBC Symphony Orchestra (under Toscanini's direction) from 1937-1941 and formed the short-lived Primrose Quartet in 1939. He made a number of chamber music recordings with Jascha Heifetz and Gregor Piatigorsky (eg, the "Heifetz-Piatigorsky Concerts" on RCA). Primrose also had a career as a soloist and teacher.
- Nikolai Graudan, born in Russia, was first cellist of the Berlin Philharmonic from 1926-1935. After moving to the US, he was a cellist at the Metropolitan Opera Company as well as with the Minneapolis Symphony.
- Victor Babin, born in Russia, studied composition in Riga with Franz Schrecker and piano with Artur Schnabel in Berlin. He and his wife, Vitya Vronsky, formed a piano duo team and had their American premiere in 1937. Vronsky & Babin, as they were known, became one of the most prominent piano duos of their time and recorded for RCA, Columbia, Decca, and EMI. From 1961 until his death in 1972, Babin was the Director of the Cleveland Institute of Music. Babin also composed several works.
Although their discography was limited, the Festival Quartet recorded many of the best known works of the piano quartet repertoire for RCA in the late 1950s and early 1960s, including:
- Schubert's "Trout" piano quintet, with Stuart Sankey on double bass (1957; LSC-2147)
- A two LP compilation of Schumann's Piano Quartet, Op. 47; Beethoven's Piano Quartet, Op. 16; and Brahms' Piano Quartet in C minor, Op. 60 (1959; LSC-6068)
- Brahms' Piano Quartet in C minor, Op. 60 (LSC-2330; 1959)
- Brahms' Piano Quartet in G minor, Op. 25 (LSC-2473; 1961)
- Brahms' Piano Quartet in A, Op. 26 (LSC-2517; 1961)
- Faure's Piano Quartet in G minor, Op. 45 (LSC-2735; 1964)
I have long appreciated these albums, not because they are sonically spectacular, but because they are engaging and they draw one in without overwhelming. These albums are prized not because they are “hot tracks” — those ridiculously overpriced albums that encourage people to brag about their $60,000 turntables — up because they capture truly fine musicians who communicate what’s essential and true about the music. They encourage you to listen to the music, not to listen to the stereo setup.
ReplyDeleteΙ could not agree more. I have been enjoying all these albums too for years (except the Trout, could not find it for a reasonable price until now). Some are sonically better than the others, but they are all musically impeccable and thoroughly entertaining.
DeleteIt's wonderful to hear that you've been enjoying the Festival Quartet recordings for some time! Did you find yours in record shops in Europe or did you purchase them online?
DeleteI bought them online, I believe from the UK-it has been some time.
DeleteThanks this is really informative and helpful. FQ have not been on my radar at all but I was aware of Szymon Goldberg after I picked up a cheap copy of one of the Ace of Diamonds Mozart Sonatas for P and V with Lupu. Great sounding Kingsway sound with critics generally harsh on Goldbergs contributions. I don't recall coming the early covers you feature of FQ in the wild but in the UK it looks like I should keep an eye out for later Camden Victriola FQ later pressings as label is near invisible to collectors so these are dirt cheap and I reckon worth a punt for the Trout.
ReplyDeleteI did pick up for a pound a mint Rubinstein/Guarneri Mozart PQ 478/493 Red Seal UK pressing, sonics wise a bit underwhelming, possibly linked to it being a non Decca RCA UK pressing, for me it loses out to the similarly cheap Previn/Musicverein SXL6989 from 1981; which does significantly benefit from the Kingsway/John Dunkerley engineer input.
Thank you, Analogue Anorak! Please let us know if you do come across any of the FQ recordings in the UK! I am also a fan of the Mozart piano quartets. I grew up listening to my father's CBS recording of Horzowski and the Budapest SQ and then later bought the Beaux Arts Trio Philips CD (with Bruno Giuranna) in high school. The recording with Paul Lewis and the Leopold Trio on Hyperion is also very nice. I haven't come across either of the two recordings you mentioned but will keep an eye out for the Previn.
Delete"critics generally harsh on Goldbergs contributions". This is news to me, I have always read only positive reviews of Goldberg, and the Mozart Sonatas with Radu Lupu is to my knowledge a gramophone classic- I have all of them by the way, all 3 sets. One of the most cherished parts of my collection.
DeleteUnaware a single Festival Qt LP ever had UK issue.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Audio/Archive-Studio-Sound/70s/Studio-Sound-1979-11.pdf gives (p48 on) details of RCA etc cutting-suites - which would apply to the Mozart (1978: nice LP).
Later '70's RCA UK mastering compared well with Decca.
Particularly cherish the Mozart box as the Queen Elizabeth Hall booklet (the series Dec'73-Jan'74) is autographed by Goldberg/Lupu (naturally, cost pennies). And nice to recently find the 5LP Beethoven Perlman/Ashkenazy bocset for £4.99, too!