The above claim that the nineteenth century was the “comfort zone” of the Guarneri Quartet can be affirmed by the fact that the composers from that century account for the “lion’s share” of the 49 CDs in the Sony Masterworks box set, Guarneri Quartet: The Complete Recordings 1965–2005 (not including the previously reported releases of works by Franz Schubert). As might be guessed, primary attention goes to what may be called the “Schumann-Brahms axis,” given that some of the multiple-CD albums in the collection are devoted to “side-by-side” recordings of music by Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms. Brahms first met Robert and Clara Schumann in October of 1853, and he would maintain a relationship with Clara after Robert’s death. (Clara, in turn, would perform Brahms’ music in her recitals.)
Those “side-by-side” albums account for all of the quartets by both of the composers, as well as the album of the three Brahms piano quartets coupled with Schumann’s Opus 44 piano quintet. Many readers probably already know that Arnold Schoenberg was so taken with the first of these quartets, Opus 25 in G minor, that he orchestrated the score, hoping that the music would receive more attention. (That attention would benefit from George Balanchine decision to choreograph the Schoenberg version.) The pianist for these compositions is none other than Artur Rubinstein, who also joined the Guarneri in their recording of Brahms’ Opus 34 quintet in F minor. As far as the string quartets are concerned, it may will be the case that I have not encountered any of them since the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan celebrated the sesquicentenary of the birth of Johannes Brahms (born in 1833) with a marathon series of concerts covering all of his chamber music for piano and strings.
Photograph of Dvořák with his friends and family in New York (1893 photograph by unknown photographer, public domain, from Wikimedia Commons)
Antonín Dvořák receives just as much attention as Brahms in the Guarneri repertoire. Nevertheless, the account of string quartets is relatively sparse, perhaps under the assumption that only Opus 96 in F major, known as the “American” quartet, tended to draw audience enthusiasm. On the other hand, Rubinstein again appears as “guest artist for both the Opus 81 piano quintet in A major and the Opus 87 piano quartet in E-flat major. On the other hand, I have confess a fondness for the Opus 74 terzetto, which I came to know and love through another choreographer of Dvořák’s music, Antony Tudor. His use of Opus 74 near the beginning of Leaves are Fading was responsible for getting me hooked on future encounters with Dvořák’s chamber music for strings.
As might be guessed, the collection includes Felix Mendelssohn’s Opus 20 octet in E-flat major, which was recorded during the Marlboro Music Festival. The Guarneri also recorded an early Mendelssohn quartet, Opus 13 in A minor, coupled with Edvard Grieg’s Opus 27 quartet in G minor. The only other composer to receive more than one CD is Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. His Opus 11 quartet is D major is coupled with Giuseppe Verdi’s E minor quartet. The other album is devoted entirely to the Opus 70 “Souvenir de Florence” sextet, which includes violist Boris Kroyt and Mischa Schneider on cello.
There is one more Rubinstein album. He joins the ensemble in performing Gabriel Fauré’s Opus 15 piano quartet in C minor. This early work in the Fauré canon is coupled with one of the latest, his Opus 121 string quartet. Finally, the quartet accounts for the latter end of the nineteenth century with an album that couples two “second quartets.” These are the D major quartet by Alexander Borodin and the Opus 15 (second) quartet by Ernst von Dohnányi, composed in the key of D-flat major.
Taken as a whole, Guarneri seems to have done a good job in embracing the rich breadth of the nineteenth century, providing an engaging diversity in the recordings they released for this period.
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