Arriaga - String Quartets - Theme & Variations - Phoenix Quartet

Juan Crisostomo de Arriaga (1806-1826)

String Quartet No. 1 in D minor

String Quartet No. 2 in A major

String Quartet No. 3 in E flat

Theme and Variations

Andante (Theme)
Andante (1st variation)
Andante (2nd variation)
Andante (3rd variation)
Con Sforza (4th variation)
Piu allegro (5th variation)
Tempo primo (6th variation)
Largo (Coda)

Phoenix String Quartet

David Sackson, 1st Violin / Fred Manzella, 2nd Violin
Ralph Hersh, Viola / Maurice Bialkin, Cello

(Golden Crest, 1964)

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Note 1: I'd like to thank everyone for the nice appreciation comments - which are really appreciated from my side (just a word or two - and I'm easily satisfied). Sometimes I don't see the comments - mainly because I don't always look for them. But when I do find them, they go a long way with me.


Note 2: Arriaga has been named "the Spanish Mozart"... I assume before Schubert's works became fixed in anyone's ears. At any rate, it is Schubert (Arriaga's exact contemporary, especially in the Andantino of the Third Quartet) rather than Mozart - which always comes to this listener's mind like a spooky double in the background.

I found this set some time ago, but never uploaded it - the first complete LP recordings (if I'm not mistaken) of the Arriaga Quartets - plus the Theme and Variations for String Quartet, written when the composer was 15 (and which I'd not heard outside this collection). The present offering is the high fidelity issue of this set. I've decided to finally upload this version since it's unlikely that I'll ever get around to paying the $70+ for the stereo version.

I would imagine that many place the performances of the Guilet Quartet higher than those of the Pheonix Quartet when it comes to Arriaga. I don't. To the contrary, I find the Guilet versions a bit nebulous and uncommited - but, as usual, such matters are highly subjective. However, technical polish never solves problems of interpretation simply on its own.

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"In the mid-fifties, motivated by his interest in the vast store of little-known chamber music of all periods, especially that of 18th century Spain, [David Sackson] founded the Phoenix String Quartet whose recording of the complete chamber music works of Arriaga received an important review in the New York Times Sunday edition, January 31st, 1965. ... The Quartet has appeared under such distinguished auspices as the Library of Congress, Yale University, University of Chicago, The Gardner Museum of Boston ..."

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LP transfers of above material.
Includes cover, label and notes.