Fond Recollections of the Guarneri Quartet

The latest “anthology” to be released by Sony Classics is a highly personal one. When I was working at a research laboratory in Ridgefield, Connecticut, I chose to live to the south in Stamford for easy access for the commuter rail line into Grand Central Station in Manhattan. I left my job in Santa Barbara, California, with a voracious appetite for classical music performances; and I could not have found a better way to satisfy that appetite. (That move also led to my meeting my wife-to-be!)

I particularly enjoyed opportunities for listening to chamber music, and the Guarneri Quartet offered much to satisfy my appetite. I was therefore delighted to learn that Sony Masterworks just released their latest box set: Guarneri Quartet: The Complete Recordings 1965–2005. This ensemble was led by violinist Arnold Steinhardt with John Dalley on second violin, violist Michael Tree, and David Soyer on cello. Their repertoire was a broad one, and I feel as if I only scratched the surface of it in my opportunities to listen to them in recital.

Now I can take a deeper dive into a repertoire which spanned from the First Viennese School to much of the last century. As usual, I plan to write about the new anthology through a series of articles, and each of the four First Viennese School composers will be approached separately. Sadly, the first of these, Joseph Haydn, is represented by only three CDs.

Original album cover for the Haydn Opus 77 quartets (from the Amazon.com Web page for that album)

The Hoboken catalog lists 83 string quartets, the last of which is incomplete. However, the first CD accounts for the last two completed works (81 and 82), published as Opus 77 and known as the Lobkowitz Quartets, composed in 1799. There is a freshness to the Guarneri approach to both of these quartets, which reminds listeners that, even late in life, Haydn’s capacity for invention was as fresh as ever. The second CD couples quartets from two distinctively different periods. The earlier quartet (34) is the fourth of the so-called “Sun” quartets, composed in the key of D major. This is coupled with Hoboken III:74, the last of the second set (Opus 74) of the “Apponyi” quartets. The final CD is a complete performance of The Seven Last Words of Christ (Hoboken III:50–56), conceived as music for meditation during the Lenten period.

Readers that have followed this site for some time probably know my advocacy of Leonard Slatkin’s precept: “You can never conduct enough Haydn or Schubert.” The Guarneri players may not have shared his enthusiasm, but they definitely knew how to capture Haydn’s spirit. Thus, while there are a total of 49 CDs in this new release, I suspect that it will be likely that I tend to gravitate back to the modest number of quartets honoring that spirit.