The Julliard String Quartet

The Julliard String Quartet with Robert Mann & Robert Koff; Violins; Raphael Hillyer, viola & Arthur Winograd, Cello

Béla Bartók: The Six String Quartets (rec. 1949, from Columbia LPs ML-4278/79/80)); Arnold Schoenberg The String Quartets, (rec. 1951/52, from Columbia LP set SL-188); Alban Berg - Lyric Suite (rec. 1950, from Columbia LP ML 2148] and String Quartet, opus 3 (rec. 1952, from Columbia LP set SL-188) & Anton Webern - Five Movements for String Quartet, opus 5 (rec.1952, from Columbia LP set SL-188)

The Julliard String Quartet - Celebrated Early Recordings (1949-52)
The Juilliard String Quartet is a classical music string quartet founded in 1946 at the Juilliard School in New York by the School's president, the composer William Schuman, and violinist Robert Mann. Their intention was for the group to perform repertory pieces as well as contemporary works expertly, teach other chamber music ensembles, and as the resident quartet at the school increase Juilliard's prestige. In the words of the JSQ's website, "The Quartet has consistently realized the credo stated by founders Robert Mann and William Schuman to 'play new works as if they were established masterpieces, and established masterpieces as if they were new.'" The JSQ's acclaimed debut concert given on 23 December 1947 at New York's Town Hall included Berg's Lyric Suite; convincing performances of ground-breaking programs followed, such as the Bartók cycle, the American premiere of which was given by the JSQ at Tanglewood in the summer of 1948 (the Bartók Quartets had been performed individually in the U.S. but not as a cycle), and Schoenberg's four quartets, which they played to the composer before performing them in public. Their early Columbia LPs of these works were highly prized by critics and collectors alike and are released here in new digital transfers.

Digital restoration (2011) by Lani Spahr & Philippe Devereux. Total time: 6 hrs 7 min.