Hollywood String Quartet - The HSQ and Modern Repertoire

The HSQ and Modern Repertoire

The HSQ repertoire included several contemporary compositions, including pieces that had not previously been recorded. Prior to the HSQ's 1950 recording, Arnold Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht had only been released in a version for orchestra, although it was originally written for six instruments. Joined by Alvin Dinkin on second viola and Kurt Reher on second cello, the HSQ recording of the sextet in its original form was heralded by the composer, who wrote the original liner notes for the LP jacket. In a taped interview years later, cellist Eleanor Aller was visibly moved as she recalled receiving a photo inscribed by Schoenberg: “For the Hollywood String Quartet for playing my Verklärte Nacht with such subtle beauty."

In 1994, Gramophone Magazine inducted the CD re-issue of Verklärte Nacht, coupled with the Schubert String Quintet in C, Op. 163, D 956 into its Hall of Fame in the “Historical Non-Vocal” category. Gramophone Magazine stated that the recording was “unsurpassed...they have incomparable ensemble and blend; and their impeccable technical address and consummate tonal refinement silence criticism.” Writing about a 1952 concert performance in San Francisco which he described as “epical”, music historian Alfred Frankenstein said: "Perhaps the Schoenberg was the most important of the three pieces…for it has seldom been presented here in its original form, as a chamber work for six musicians. In this version, it possesses a magical transparency and beauty of texture which are lost in the more familiar version for string orchestra, and none of its coloristic or expressive marvels was slighted in Sunday's performance.”

The HSQ was the first to record the String Quartet in A Minor by Sir William Walton. At that time, the first recording of a work had to receive the composer’s approval prior to release. In the first (unreleased) version recorded in November, 1949, the HSQ eliminated the repeat in the second movement; the musicians felt it detracted from the excitement of the composition. However, Walton did not concur with the change, resulting in a re-recording of the movement in August, 1950. The released version received the composer’s enthusiastic endorsement:“...I hope no one else ever records my Quartet again, because you captured so exactly what I had wanted..." Walton’s music publisher from Oxford University Press also wrote to violist Paul Robyn: "I felt I would like to add…how much Dr. Walton and I enjoyed your playing of the very prominent viola part of this work. Would there not be a chance one day that you could play his Viola Concerto…?” However, Robyn never recorded Walton’s Viola Concerto.

Similarly, composer Paul Creston responded to their 1953 recording of his Quartet by writing to the album's producer Robert Myers: “I am tremendously pleased with the performance and reproduction of the work…would you be so kind as to convey my deepest appreciation and gratitude to the Hollywood String Quartet for their splendid execution. Reports of their fine abilities had already reached me before I was fortunate enough to become acquainted with them, and I am delighted that they were chosen to permanently preserve my composition.”