March 21: Sony Classical Presents the Guarneri String Quartet – The Complete RCA Victor Collection

Sony Classical Presents the Guarneri String Quartet
The Complete RCA Victor Collection

9 recordings new to CD and 1 recording previously unreleased

Album Release Date: March 21, 2025
Reviewer Rate: $120.16
Pre-Order Available Now

In the early 1960s, four young musicians who had been playing chamber music at Rudolf Serkin’s Marlboro School and Festival in Vermont were encouraged to form a string quartet. In July 1964, the Guarneri Quartet gave its first concert and less than a year later made its first recordings under contract to RCA Victor. For the next 45 years, with only one change of personnel, the Guarneris performed all over the world and amassed a large, wide-ranging, prize-winning discography. Sony Classical now presents, for the first time in a single collection, all the recordings made by the Guarneri Quartet for RCA between 1965 and 2005. Pre-order is available now. The set will be released on March 21, 2025.

When the announcement came of its retirement at the end of the 2008–09 season, the eminent British critic Rob Cowan wrote a perceptive, affectionate tribute to the Guarneri Quartet in Gramophone, comparing it to the Juilliard Quartet, the other superb ensemble that had dominated the American quartet catalogue for so many years. Using their respective Bartók recordings as an example, he contrasted the “cut-glass precision” of the Juilliard’s early-60s set to the Guarneri’s “volatile, free-spirited, generously expressive and tonally rich” performing style in its RCA cycle from the mid-70s.

That characterization of the Guarneri Quartet’s playing runs through virtually all the reviews garnered in their long recording career, a story that began with the 1966 release of two of Mozart’s late “Prussian” Quartets and an album coupling Dvořák and Smetana. HiFi Stereo Review wrote that “not since the Juilliard String Quartet set the New York music world on its collective ear some 25 years ago has a new chamber group created such a furor as the Guarneri Quartet on the occasion of its New York début in February, 1965. This pair of discs demonstrates eloquently what all the shouting was about, for these players – Arnold Steinhardt, John Dalley, Michael Tree, and David Soyer – blend precision with flexibility of phrasing and rhythm in a way not often encountered in contemporary American string groups. Here, indeed, is the influence of the seed bed from which the quartet stems – the Marlboro of Rudolf Serkin, Alexander Schneider, and Pablo Casals … To the Smetana [‘From My Life’] the Guarneri Quartet brings blazing intensity and fierce rhythmic verve, while the wonderful slow movement of the Dvořák [Op. 105] comes forth from the stereo speakers with an almost orchestral lushness, yet with inner voices flawlessly balanced.”

Other critics concurred in their reviews of these two LPs: “The foursome produces an unfailingly luscious tone, plays with letter-perfect intonation, and displays all sorts of felicitous pinpoint balances and coloristic effects. And how these gentlemen stay together … even in the most wayward of tempo changes. In short, this is ensemble work of a transcendental variety … The Guarneri Quartet is the most gifted group of its kind I have heard in years” (High Fidelity). “This is distinguished Mozart playing indeed. Its technical excellence needs little comment: as with the Dvořák/Smetana record … last month, with this team you take technical mastery for granted as soon as you hear the first phrase, and straightaway it's the intensely musical quality of the playing which strikes you. Theirs is Mozart played with the classical virtues, above all with firm line, poise and sensibility. The surface of the music is polished, but how much the Guarneri Quartet find beneath” (Gramophone).

Arthur Rubinstein was the quartet’s longtime keyboard partner. In 1966, they recorded the Piano Quintets of Schumann and Brahms: “Rubinstein and the Guarneris search out to equally convincing effect the flowingly lyrical aspects of the music, and this yields special rewards in a ravishing slow movement [the Brahms]” (HiFi Stereo Review). Dvořák’s followed in 1971: “The performance is beautifully balanced between the gentleman at the keyboard and the gentlemen with strings, and the sense of give and take comes from the experience of many collaborations” (High Fidelity).

They also recorded the piano quartet literature, beginning in 1967 with “beautiful performances” (High Fidelity) of Brahms. Their reading of Fauré’s Op. 25 in C minor was judged (also by High Fidelity) to be “beautifully played and exquisitely well reproduced. The instrumental lines are wonderfully clear in this highly directional recording … Rubinstein displays his regal style.” And in a disc containing both of Mozart’s piano quartets, “the playing throughout both sides is extremely beautiful … and superbly integrated – at once expressive and elegant, making all of Mozart’s points with clarity, straightforwardness, and the exalted give-and-take that is the life’s breath of real chamber music. The recorded sound, too, is exceptional for its richness, balance, and clarity” (HiFi Stereo Review).

One of many other composers who feature prominently in Sony’s Guarneri collection is Haydn. About the ensemble’s 1977 recording of the two Op.77 quartets, HiFi Stereo Review wrote that “these spirited, attractive performances of Haydn's two greatest string quartets are marked by a sense of real involvement. Articulation is crisp, ensemble is impeccable, and there is an organic flow from the first phrase to the last in each work”, while Gramophone praised their “deeply thoughtful, powerfully paced” 1986 reading of Haydn’s Seven Last Words.

With reinforcement from the Budapest Quartet in 1965, the Guarneris produced an “absolutely stunning performance (HiFi Stereo Review) of Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir de Florence sextet. In 1966, they recorded quartets by Mendelssohn and Grieg (the latter receiving its CD première in this set): “The Guarneri ensemble does itself proud throughout this disc – most notably in the Mendelssohn, in which they display a tonal homogeneity and a warmth of phrasing that are truly striking. It is as though one instrument, not four, were producing the lovely sound that emerges from the speakers. Happily, the RCA recording staff has come up here with a string quartet sonority of the utmost intimacy, yet endowed with just enough room tone to enhance the naturally warm tone of the Guarneris” (HiFi Stereo Review).

But the heart of any string quartet’s repertoire is inevitably the Beethoven cycle, and it is with these works that the Guarneris were most closely associated. They made their complete recording for RCA between 1966 and 1969. Gramophone described the Early Quartets as “elegant and buoyant, with well-chosen tempos, subtle bowing, crisp articulation, telling contrasts between staccato and legato, and a consistent sense of style.” HiFi Stereo Review enumerated the virtues of their Middle Quartets: “(1) excellent intonation; (2) glowing tone; (3) ensemble that is balanced and accurate but always flexible and natural; (4) superb phrasing and line-building; (5) good feeling for a high Beethoven style. These are strong and expressive readings that often achieve great poetic insight and a powerful dynamic impulse.” The HiFi Stereo Review’s critic rhapsodized over their Late Quartets: “If I had to make the choice of a very few records to take with me to a desert island, I’d choose recordings of the last five Beethoven string quartets. Now, with the arrival of this new album (complete with the Grosse Fuge) by the Guarneri Quartet, I’ve got my island package. All I need is the island. The Guarneri is, without a doubt, one of the most extraordinary string quartets before the public these days: the group has an absolutely stunning sense of both soloistic and ensemble color. Indeed, I can’t think of another string quartet that can match them for sheer sensuous appeal.”

SET CONTENTS

DISC 1:

Smetana: String Quartet No. 1 in E Minor T.116 "From my life"
Dvorák: String Quartet No. 13 in A-Flat Major, Op. 105

DISC 2:

Mozart: String Quartet No. 22 in B-Flat Major, K. 589
Mozart: String Quartet No. 23 in F Major, K. 590

DISC 3:

Tchaikovsky : Souvenir de Florence, Op. 70

DISC 4:

Mendelssohn: Quartet in A Minor, Op. 13
Grieg: String Quartet in G Minor, Op. 27

DISC 5:

Brahms: Piano Quintet in F Minor, Op. 34

DISC 6:

Beethoven: String Quartet No. 7 in F Major, Op. 59, No. 1, "Razumovsky"

DISC 7:

Beethoven: String Quartet No. 8 in E Minor, Op. 59, No. 2
Beethoven: String Quartet No. 9 in C Major, Op. 59, No. 3

DISC 8:

Beethoven: String Quartet No. 10 in E-Flat Major, Op. 74, "Harp"
Beethoven: String Quartet No. 11 in F Minor, Op. 95 "Serioso"

DISC 9:

Brahms: Piano Quartet No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 25
Brahms: Piano Quartet No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 60

DISC 10:

Brahms: Piano Quartet No. 2 in A Major, Op. 26
Schumann: Piano Quintet in E-Flat Major, Op. 44

DISC 11:

Beethoven: String Quartet No. 13 in B-Flat Major, Op. 130
Beethoven: Große Fuge, Op. 133

DISC 12:

Beethoven: String Quartet No. 14 in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 131
Beethoven: String Quartet No. 12 in E-Flat Major, Op. 127

DISC 13:

Beethoven: String Quartet No. 15 in A Minor, Op. 132
Beethoven: String Quartet No. 16 in F Major, Op. 135

DISC 14:

Beethoven: String Quartet No. 1 in F Major, Op. 18 No. 1
Beethoven: String Quartet No. 2 in G Major, Op. 18 No. 2
Beethoven: String Quartet No. 3 in D Major, Op. 18, No. 3

DISC 15:

Beethoven: String Quartet No. 4, in C Minor, Op. 18, No. 4
Beethoven: String Quartet No. 5 in A Major, Op. 18, No. 5
Beethoven: String Quartet No. 6 in B-Flat Major, Op. 18, No. 6

DISC 16:

Dvorák: Piano Quintet No. 2 in A Major, Op. 81

DISC 17:

Schubert: String Quartet No. 13 in A Minor, D. 804
Schubert: String Quartet No. 12 in C Minor, D. 703 "Quartettsatz"

DISC 18:

Dvorák: Piano Quartet No. 2 in E-Flat Major, Op. 87

DISC 19:

Dvorák: String Quartet in No. 11 in C Major, Op. 61
Dvorák: Terzetto in C Major, Op. 74

DISC 20:

Debussy: Quartet in G Minor, Op. 10
Ravel: String Quartet in F Major, M. 35

DISC 21:

Mozart: String Quartet No. 14 in G Major, K. 387
Mozart: String Quartet No. 15 in D Minor, K. 421

DISC 22:

Mozart: String Quartet No. 16 in E-Flat Major, K. 428
Mozart: String Quartet No. 17 in B-Flat Major, K. 458 "Hunt"

DISC 23:

Fauré: Piano Quartet No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 15
Fauré: String Quartet in E Minor, Op. 121

DISC 24:

Mozart: String Quartet No. 18 in A Major, K. 464
Mozart: String Quartet No. 19 in C Major, K. 465 "Dissonant"

DISC 25:

Schubert: String Quintet in C Major, D. 956

DISC 26:

Dvorák: String Quartet in No. 6 in F Major, Op. 96 "American"
Dvorák: String Quintet No. 3 in E-Flat Major, Op. 97

DISC 27:

Schubert: Quartet No. 14 in D Minor, D.810 "Death and the Maiden"
Wolf: Italian Serenade

DISC 28:

Bartók: String Quartet No. 1, Sz. 40 (1909)
Bartók: String Quartet No. 2, Sz. 67 (1915-17)
Bartók: String Quartet No. 3, Sz. 85

DISC 29:

Bartók: String Quartet No. 4, Sz. 91 (1928)
Bartók: String Quartet No. 5, Sz. 102 (1934)
Bartók: String Quartet No. 6, Sz. 114 (1939)

DISC 30:

Mozart: Piano Quartet in G Minor, K. 478
Mozart: Piano Quartet in E-Flat Major, K. 493

DISC 31:

Haydn: String Quartet in G Major, Hob.III:81 "Lobkowitz"
Haydn: String Quartet in F Major, Hob.III:82

DISC 32:

Schubert: Quartet No. 15 in G Major, D.887

DISC 33:

Beethoven: String Quintet in C Major, Op. 29
Mendelssohn: Quintet in B-Flat Major, Op. 87

DISC 34:

Haydn: String Quartet in D Major, Hob.III:34
Haydn: String Quartet in G Minor, Hob.III:74

DISC 35:

Brahms: String Quartet No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 51 (1909)
Brahms: String Quartet No. 2 in A Minor, Op. 51

DISC 36:

Brahms: String Quartet No. 3 in B-Flat Major, Op. 67
Schumann: String Quartet No. 1, Op. 41 No. 1

DISC 37:

Schumann: String Quartet No. 2, Op. 41 No. 2
Schumann: String Quartet No. 3, Op. 41 No. 3

DISC 38:

Dvorák: String Quartet No. 14 in G Major, Op. 106

DISC 39:

Borodin: String Quartet No. 2 in D Major
Dohnányi: String Quartet No. 2 in D-Flat Major, Op. 15

DISC 40:

Mozart: String Quartet No. 20 in D Major, K. 499
Mozart: String Quartet No. 21 in D Major, K. 575

DISC 41:

Brahms: String Quintet No. 1 in F Major, Op. 88
Brahms: String Quintet No. 2 in G Major, Op. 111

DISC 42:

Schubert: Piano Quintet in A Major, D. 667 "Trout"
Mozart: Eine kleine Nachtmusik, K. 525

DISC 43:

Verdi: String Quartet in E Minor
Tchaikovsky: String Quartet No. 1 in D Major, Op. 11

DISC 44:

Haydn: The Seven Last Words of Christ Op. 51

DISC 45:

Mozart: String Quintet No. 1 in B-Flat Major, K. 174
Mozart: String Quintet No. 4 in G Minor, K. 516

DISC 46:

Mozart: String Quintet No. 2 in C Minor, K. 406
Mozart: String Quintet No. 5 in D Major, K. 593

DISC 47:

Mozart: String Quintet No. 3 in C Major, K. 515
Mozart: String Quintet No. 6 in E-Flat Major, K. 614

DISC 48:

Dohnányi: String Quartet No. 2 in D-Flat Major, Op. 15
Kodály: String Quartet No. 2, Op. 10
Dohnányi: String Quartet No. 3 in A Minor, Op. 33

DISC 49:

Mendelssohn: Octet for 4 Violins, 2 Violas and 2 Cellos in E-flat Major, Op. 20
Mendelssohn: String Quartet No. 3 in D Major, Op. 44 No. 1 (previously unreleased)