Guilet Quartet recorded legacy?
Mario Taboada
Some time ago, I read (I can't recall where) about the excellence of the
Guilet Quartet, an old ensemble led by Daniel Guilet of Beaux Arts trio
fame, and in which David Soyer, the present Guarneri cellist, played for
a while.
I am curious as to whether this quartet made recordings, and if so,
whether any have been released on CD.
The reason all of this came to mind is that I was listening to the
Schubert trios by the old Beaux Arts, in which Guilet does an excellent
job (as do his partners).
Regards,
Mario Taboada
Jicotea
Mario Taboada <matr...@sprintmail.com> wrote in article
<34D245...@sprintmail.com>...
> Some time ago, I read (I can't recall where) about the excellence of the
> Guilet Quartet, an old ensemble led by Daniel Guilet of Beaux Arts trio
> fame, and in which David Soyer, the present Guarneri cellist, played for
> a while.
<snip>
The Guilet Quartet was a first-rate lot, in the French manner but rather
better than most French quartets of its time. Lots of recordings on mono
LPs. At the risk of resembling the celebrated imbecile Pelleas, here's a
list taken out of Kurtz Myer's "Record Ratings" (NY, Crown, 1955).
-Arriaga: String Quartets Nos. 1 & 2 (Concert Hall CHS 1068)
-Bartok: String Quartet No. 4 (Concert Hall CHC-9)(subscription record)
-Boccherini: String Quartets, opp. 10/2, 33/5 (CHC-43)
-Faure: String Quartet in Em, op. 121; Sonata No. 2 in E for Violin and
Piano, Op. 108 (Guilet/Gaby Casadesus)(Polymusic 1008).
-Faure: Quartet No. 1, piano & strings, op. 15; Sonata No. 2 for Cello &
Piano, op. 117 (G. Casadesus/Guilet Qtt members; David Soyer, cello;
Leopold Mittman, piano) (Polymusic 1007).
-Hindemith: String Quartet No. 4, op. 32 (Concert Hall CHS 1086)
-Mozart: String Quartets, K. 465, 575 (Concert Hall CHS 1130)
-Schubert: String Quartet No. 10 in E fl, D. 87 (Concert Hall CHC 7)
-Schubert: "Trout" Quintet (Menahem Pressler, piano, Philip Sklar, double
bass)(MGM E-3128)
-Diamond: String Quartet No. 3 (with Barber Violin Cto)(Concert Hall E-8)
another subscription issue, extremely rare
-Arriaga: String Quartet No. 3; Paganini: Quartet in E (Con. Hl. F-14)
-Thompson: String Quartet No. 1 in Dm (with Barber Cello Sonata, Raya
Garbousova/Erich Itor Kahn)(C.H. CHS 1092)
-Haydn: 7 Last Words (sorry, I'm fading) CHS 1084
-Mendelssohn: Quartet in D, op. 44/1; Weber: Trio in Gm (Rene LeRoy/Janos
Scholz/Erno Balogh)(Vox VLP 6390)
So the group had quite a range. Guilet was for a long time Toscanini's
concertmaster at NBC. Back in prewar France, as Daniel Giulevich, he was
2nd violinist of the very good Calvet Quartet.
Basta!
John Wiser
Matthew B. Tepper
In article <01bd2df5$af9ecfa0$398f82d1@candacew>,
jic...@frontiernet.com spake:
>
>So the group had quite a range. Guilet was for a long time Toscanini's
>concertmaster at NBC. Back in prewar France, as Daniel Giulevich, he
>was 2nd violinist of the very good Calvet Quartet.
>Basta!
>
>John Wiser
The time Guilet spent as Toscanini's concertmaster was one season, the
final one; all other seasons, it was Mischa Mischakoff.
--
Matthew B. Tepper: WWW, science fiction, classical music, ducks!
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Mario Taboada
Thank you, John, for the detailed references. It occurs to me that,
since the catalog isn't exactly overflowing with Arriaga sets, some
charitable soul may some day want to resurrect the Guilet recordings.
These are great pieces that don't seem to have attracted many
performances or recordings. I have a disk by the Voces Quartet which is
reasonably good but not outstanding.
Regards,
Mario Taboada
Edward A. Cowan
Thanks for that list of recordings by the Guilet Quartet.
I have one LP (Concert Hall E-13) that has Mendelssohn's Quartet in C-min. for
pf. and strings, Op.1, no.1. The players are: Artur Balsam, pf., Daniel
Guilet, violin, William Schoen, viola, and David Soyer, cello. FWIW, the
recording is pressed on red vinyl. (Actually, I got the LP not for the chamber
work, but for the Overture to _Die schöne Melusine_, with the Winterthur SO,
cond. Fritz Busch, also on the record...) --E.A.C.
Don Drewecki
Actually, Guilet was NBC concertmaster for the last two seasons,
Mischakoff having left in 1952. Ironically, Toscanini's choice for
concertmaster was not Guilet but Remo Bolognini, but NBC turned the Old
Man down.
--
Don Drewecki
<dre...@rpi.edu>
Grimmfo
The Guilet Quartet also recorded at least nine Lp's for MGM from 1955-1958
(including the "Trout" mentioned by J.W.) They were,
as J.W. pointed out, in the French tradition-"lean, refined style
with emphasis on clarity of line and rhythmic exactitude." (from
the "Disc Book" (1955).
During their MGM days they made several recordings with
Menahem Pressler who, at the time, was a MGM artist. Something
must have clicked since the first Beaux Arts Trio recordings
appeared on MGM in 1958.
The chances are slim any of this will appear on CD. Word has it
that the MGM masters are in terrible shape and since Polygram
controls them, well goodness knows. As for Concert Hall and
Polymusic - who owns those masters.
Mario Taboada wrote:
>Some time ago, I read (I can't recall where) about the excellence of the
>Guilet Quartet, an old ensemble led by Daniel Guilet of Beaux Arts trio
>fame, and in which David Soyer, the present Guarneri cellist, played for
>a while.
foster grimm
Matthew B. Tepper
In article <19980201000...@ladder03.news.aol.com>,
gri...@aol.com spake:
>
>The Guilet Quartet also recorded at least nine Lp's for MGM from
>1955-1958 (including the "Trout" mentioned by J.W.) They were, as J.W.
>pointed out, in the French tradition-"lean, refined style with
>emphasis on clarity of line and rhythmic exactitude." (from the "Disc
>Book" (1955).
>During their MGM days they made several recordings with
>Menahem Pressler who, at the time, was a MGM artist. Something
>must have clicked since the first Beaux Arts Trio recordings
>appeared on MGM in 1958.
>The chances are slim any of this will appear on CD. Word has it
>that the MGM masters are in terrible shape and since Polygram
>controls them, well goodness knows. As for Concert Hall and
>Polymusic - who owns those masters.
Perhaps this is the proper mission of Dante, Lys, Grammofono 2000, Iron
Needle and other such goniffs.
Claes Liljeqvist
In article <34D245...@sprintmail.com>, Mario Taboada
<matr...@sprintmail.com> wrote:
> Some time ago, I read (I can't recall where) about the excellence of the
> Guilet Quartet, an old ensemble led by Daniel Guilet of Beaux Arts trio
One of my most cherished LPs (among a few thousands) is the Guilet Quartet's
Shosta 1 and Prokofiev 1 on MGM E 3113. I find the playing outstanding.
Listen a few seconds, and there's no alternative but to hear the entire record.
The strings are singing voices, though evidently made of wood (the quality
string enthusiasts are missing from so many recordings). The recorded sound is
amazing; very dark, yet clear, focused and with all the colours. Instrumental
bodies are huge and very present, without a hint of overprojection or aggres-
siveness (though the Prokofiev Scherzo will cause your hair to raise!). This is
my ideal chamber music sound though I realize some people may not like it.
[People who have heard good chamber music 78s properly reproduced on fine
equipment know what I'm trying to describe.]
Another MGM mono that I find exceptional in all respects (the immense musicality
of the above and the stereo/digital-killing sound) is E 3103, Franck and Brahms
(3rd) sonatas by Roberto and Anatole Kitain. Most other early mono MGMs I've
heard haven't had any of these qualities.
/Claes
P.S. My E 3113 is the original yellow label (sealed when found). I have E 3103
also in the 2nd, black lbl pressing. Seems just as good.
Rodger Whitlock
"Jicotea" <jic...@frontiernet.com> wrote:
>The Guilet Quartet was a first-rate lot...here's a
>list taken out of Kurtz Myer's "Record Ratings" (NY, Crown, 1955).
>-Arriaga: String Quartets Nos. 1 & 2 (Concert Hall CHS 1068)
Hmph! Has anyone ever seen *any* Concert Hall recording reissued on CD?
It wouldn't surprise me if the master tapes are long gone to the dump.
<not holding his breath waiting for an audiophile remastering of the
Guilet Quartet's recording corpus>
----
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
on beautiful Vancouver Island
Cantelli
On Sat, Jan 31, 1998 21:18 EST Rodger Whitlock wrote:
>Hmph! Has anyone ever seen *any* Concert Hall recording reissued on CD?
>It wouldn't surprise me if the master tapes are long gone to the dump.
>
><not holding his breath waiting for an audiophile remastering of the
>Guilet Quartet's recording corpus>
I don't know what's been on CD, but (from memory, but I think this is accurate)
when the New World label reissued the Concert Hall recording of Copland's
Danzón Cubano, played by Copland and Smit, the licensing notice credited Tono
in Zurich. Perhaps where their masters are, Concert Hall's are too.
Matthew B. Tepper
Jicotea wrote:
>
> Cantelli <cant...@aol.com> wrote in article
> <19980202062...@ladder03.news.aol.com>...
> > On Sat, Jan 31, 1998 21:18 EST Rodger Whitlock wrote:
> >...when the New World label reissued the Concert Hall recording of
>
> Concert Hall reissue beyond that one-piece Copland recording, and that
> one from 1976, when New World's LP came out. But maybe this Swiss firm
> can be prodded into reactivating one of the most interesting catalogs
> of the mono LP era. Does anyone know how to reach Tono? I can think of
> one small American producer with the kind of enthusiasm needed....
>
> John Wiser
Does he live in a pink house?
If worst comes to worst, there's always (ugh) Dante, Lys, Iron Needle
and Grammofono 2000 for the stuff whose ownership nobody can trace.
Rodger Whitlock
c...@es.pp.se (Claes Liljeqvist) wrote:
>One of my most cherished LPs (among a few thousands) is the Guilet Quartet's
Anyone seen any signs of the old MGM catalogue turning up on CD? I was
floored when the tiny classial catalogue of United Artists was largely
re-released a few years ago by EMI, and wonder what surprises the
archivists yet have for us.
Jicotea
Jicotea
Matthew B. Tepper <ducky兀deltanet.com> wrote in article
<34D668...@deltanet.com>...
> Jicotea wrote:
> >
> > Cantelli <cant...@aol.com> wrote in article
> > <19980202062...@ladder03.news.aol.com>...
> > > On Sat, Jan 31, 1998 21:18 EST Rodger Whitlock wrote:
> > <snip>
<noch einmal>
> Does he live in a pink house?
Vot ju vant to know for?
> If worst comes to worst, there's always (ugh) Dante, Lys, Iron Needle
> and Grammofono 2000 for the stuff whose ownership nobody can trace.
I don't know about you, but I'd rather not buy records from goniffs. They
have a tendency to accept the cheapest possible processing. The boy we're
talking about has some standards.
John Wiser
Alan Cooper
"Jicotea" <jic...@frontiernet.com> wrote:
>I haven't identified a single Concert
>Hall reissue beyond that one-piece Copland recording, and that one from
>1976, when New World's LP came out.
Weren't at least some of those Louis Kaufman records reissued on Bay
Cities and M&A originally on Concert Hall LP? I'm pretty sure that
the Kaufman/Copland recording of the Copland Violin Sonata was, and
maybe some of the others as well.
Thanks for the wonderful posting on the Guilets!
With good wishes,
Alan Cooper
sharif...@gmail.com
Cant wait to play them.
I bought this in a flea market in Paris.