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Quartetto Italiano's sound superbly enhanced in these new 32-bit XR transfers
Notes on the recordings: The recordings presented here span the end of the 78rpm era and the start of the LP era - the 1952 recordings were given standard 78rpm matrix numbers (IAR551-2 and IAR563-68) though is it uncertain whether they were ever issued on 78s, and would have been recorded onto tape. The earlier recording, 1948's Haydn E flat Quartet, most certainly was issued on 78s (AK2159-60) and must have been among Decca's last recordings made direct to disc - this was clearly apparent when restoring the recording from their own LP transfer, in this case a mint ten-inch 33rpm German pressing, where remnants of surface noise and swish clearly indicated original 78rpm rotation. Also appreciable is the decrease in general surface noise with the advent of tape, coupled with increased general recording fidelity between 1948 and 1952. That said, each of these recordings has benefited greatly from 32-bit XR remastering, in which I've been able to bring out a great deal of clarity and fine detail, whilst retaining an open, organic sound. I was also able to enhance the originally rather dry sound of the Santa Cecilia recordings, using precisely mapped acoustic models of the hall in which the recordings were made, to "place the listener" in the centre of the seventh row of the auditorium - thus allowing the sound of the hall itself to round out the tone of the quartet in a pleasing and entirely authentic manner. Andrew Rose Click here to view additional notes
Quartetto Italiano
Quartetto Italiano (English: Italian Quartet) was a string quartet founded in 1945. They made their debut in 1945 at Carpi when all four players were still in their early 20's. They were originally named Nuovo Quartetto Italiano before dropping the "Nuovo" tag in 1951. They are particularly noted for their recording of the complete cycle of Beethoven string quartets, made between 1967 and 1975. The quartet disbanded in 1980. The secretary and historian of the Quartet was Guido Alberto Borciani (1920-2008), brother of Paolo and founder of the Premio Paolo Borciani. Members
Origins and activities Borciani, Pegreffi and Rossi met in 1940 at the Concorso Nazionale in La Spezia. In summer 1942 they met again at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, where the cellist Arturo Bonucci (head of the chamber class, husband of Pina Carmirelli) put them together with the viola player Lionello Forzanti for the study session. They worked together on the Debussy quartet and performed it in September 1942. In August 1945 the group began to study together again at the Borciani house in Reggio Emilia. Their debut followed on 12 November 1945 at the Sala dei Mori in Carpi, as the 'Nuovo Quartetto Italiano', in the inaugural concert of the Società degli Amici della Musica. By the end of the year they had also performed in Reggio Emilia and in Milan. In March 1946 they were winners at the Concorso of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, and also in the Concorso of the Accademia Filarmonica Romana. A performance for the Milan Quartet Society followed, and the first foreign engagement was at the Zürich Tonhalle. In February 1947 Piero Farulli replaced Forzati at the viola desk, and the first performance in the new (and permanent) company was at Mantua. Debuts followed that year in Austria, England, at the Venice International Festival, and at the Engadin Konzertwochen (where their collaboration with clarinettist Antoine de Bavier in the Mozart quintet K 581 occurred). They also gave the world premiere of the Villa-Lobos quartet no. 9 at the Accademia Filarmonica Romana. Appearances in Italy, England, Scotland, Spain and France followed in 1948, totalling 63 concerts, and the group began recording for Decca Records. Concerts rose to over 100 in 1949, with visits to Sweden, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Norway and Holland. At Stockholm Royal Academy they gave a series of lecture-recitals with Gerda Busoni, widow of Feruccio Busoni. Another century of concerts was given in 1950. In 1951 (having dropped the word 'Nuovo' (i.e., new) from their name) the Quartet performed at the Edinburgh Festival and at the Salzburg Festival. It was at Salzburg that they had a long and very influential interview with Wilhelm Furtwängler, who urged them to work towards a much greater freedom of expression which would access for them the world of Grand Romanticism. This was much later acknowledged as a critical turning-point for the group. In November they made their first U.S.A. tour, which was repeated in approximately alternate years until 1977. Virgil Thomson pronounced them 'The finest string quartet, unquestionably, that our century has known.' In 1953, the year in which they transferred their recording programme to Columbia Records, they gave 59 concerts in the U.S.A. and Canada. In that year also, Elisa Pegreffi married Paolo Borciani. Recordings which followed included (1954) the Darius Milhaud quartet no 12, and (1956) the Debussy quartet , which Robert Kemp described as 'miraculous'. The group was then studying the six Mozart quartets dedicated to Joseph Haydn, and performed them at venues including Milan and Fiesole. Important Festival appearances continued, at Lucerne (1955), the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (1959), the Prague Spring Festival (1961) and the Berlin Musikwochen. Through the later 1960s and early 1970s the group toured further afield, to Macedonia (1966), to South America (968), to South Africa and Zambia (1970), and to Poland, the U.S.S.R. and Japan in 1973. Meanwhile their recording projects for Philips Records, begun in 1965, were coming to fruition, with the Mozart integrale finished in 1972 and the Beethoven in 1973. In this later period their collaboration with Maurizio Pollini took place. The completion of their recording work in Schubert did not occur until 1977. In their late concerts the group focussed especially upon Beethoven and Schubert, often devoting a recital to two works, a single masterpiece by each composer. In December 1977 Piero Farulli was obliged to retire from the group owing to illness, and was replaced by Dino Asciolla. However following a tour to Israel it was decided to bring the Quartet to an end in 1980. Paolo Borciani devoted his later years to J.S. Bach's The Art of Fugue, working with Pegreffi and two students of Farulli and Rossi. Pegreffi devoted herself to teaching, Farulli found his place in the school of Fiesole, and Rossi returned to the performance of chamber music. All four were awarded the Gold Medal of the Benemeriti della Scuola, della Cultura e dell'Arte by the Presidente della Repubblica.
Notes on recordings The Quartetto Italiano have recorded the complete quartets by Beethoven, Mozart, Schumann, Brahms and Webern. They have rarely collaborated with other soloists, but notably recorded the Brahms clarinet quintet with Antoine-Pierre de Bavier in the early 1950s, and the Brahms Piano Quintet op 34 with Maurizio Pollini in 1974. They have also recorded the quintet with two violoncellos of Schubert with Pierre Fournier, and Mozart's Quintet with two violas (K 516) with Milan Škampa, viola of the Smetana Quartet.
Notes continue here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quartetto_Italiano
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