Скачать или смотреть HOLLYWOOD SQ. M. Ravel - Introduction & Allegro [A. Gleghorn, M. Lurie, A. Mason Stockton] 1951

THE HOLLYWOOD STRING QUARTET

FELIX SLATKIN, 1st Violin
(22/12/1915 - 8/02/1963)
PAUL SHURE, 2d violin
(29/09/1921 - 8/12/2010)
PAUL ROBYN, viola
(1908 - 1970)
ELEANOR ALLER SLATKIN, cello
(20/05/1917 - 13/10/1995)

MAURICE RAVEL
(7/03/1875 - 28/12/1937)

INTRODUCTION ET ALLEGRO

ARTHUR GLEGHORN, flute
MITCHELL LURIE, clarinet
ANN MASON STOCKTON, harp

Recorded on 29 October 1951

F. SLATKIN: Studied at Curtis with E. Zimbalist and conducting with F. Reiner.
P. SHURE: Studied at Curtis with J. Achron. Assistant Concertmaster at 20th Century Fox. After Shure's departure from the HSQ, Joseph Stepansky joined the Quartet for concert tours.
P. ROBYN. Studied at Juilliard with J. Fuchs, S. Gardner and H. Letz. . Left the HSQ in 1955; replaced by Alvin Dinkin.
A. DINKIN. Studied at Curtis with L. Bailly; played in St. Louis Symphony and 20th Century Fox Orchestras.
E. SLATKIN. Studied at Juilliard with F. Salmond; 1st cello with the Warner Bros. Studio Orchestra from 1939-1968 and with the 20th Century Fox Orchestra from 1972-1985.

The Hollywood String Quartet (HSQ) was an American string quartet founded by violinist Felix Slatkin and his wife cellist Eleanor Aller. The HSQ is considered to be the first American-born and trained chamber group to make an international impact, mainly through its landmark recordings, which have long been regarded as among the most outstanding recorded performances of the string quartet repertoire.

The musicians of the HSQ were the leading players in the major movie studio orchestras producing the vibrant, lush film soundtracks during the "Golden Age of Hollywood". In 1939, the same year as their marriage, F. Slatkin and E. Aller formed the HSQ.
In its original formation, Slatkin and Aller were joined by violist Paul Robyn and 2d violinist Joachim Chassman. However, the group disbanded when the 3 male members enlisted in WWII service. The 1945 group replaced Chassman with Paul C. Shure. During the next 9 years, the group gained widespread recognition. In 1955, P. Robyn left the group and Alvin Dinkin assumed the viola chair.

In addition to their work in the Hollywood studio orchestras and recording classical repertoire, the HSQ members regularly performed as session musicians at the major record companies, including Capitol Records. At Capitol, they accompanied some of the leading pop performers of the era, most notably Frank Sinatra, for whom Slatkin acted as concertmaster and occasional conductor on his now iconic Capitol recordings during the 1950s.

The musicians of the HSQ were all the progeny of Russian immigrants. All were formally trained at either the Juilliard School or the Curtis Institute of Music. The Slatkins' elder son, conductor Leonard Slatkin, has observed that the similarities among musicians' backgrounds and music training impacts their technique and resulting sound as an ensemble: "With the HSQ, you had 4 people who basically had the same kind of training; 4 people who were more or less of the same age group and who approached music in almost identical ways."
The resulting sound has been acclaimed for its "remarkable transparency of texture ... this clarity was due in part to their excellent intonation and partly through their thorough preparation ... what set them above ... was their ability to combine warmth, color, and intensity with intellectual rigor, firm rhythm and an intuitive grasp of a work's architecture."

The recordings garnered similar enthusiasm upon their initial release. Commenting on record of compositions by Creston, Turina, and Wolf, Gramophone Magazine's Lionel Salter wrote: "Once again the HSQ shows what a masterly ensemble it is. I for one always look forward to its new records and have never yet been faced with a performance of less than the highest class. The tone of all the members is warm and well-balanced, they play with unshakable unaniminity [sic] and suppleness."

The HSQ toured in the US seven times, and visited Canada and New Zealand, but due to the musicians' extensive studio commitments, concerts were primarily performed in Southern California. However, the HSQ was the first American quartet to be invited to the Edinburgh Festival during a 1957 tour that also included appearances in Stockholm, Rome and the Royal Festival Hall in London. A live recording of selections from the Royal Festival Hall performance was issued on CD form in 1996.
In 1994, the HSQ won the prestigious Gramophone Magazine Award in the Historic Non-Vocal category for the Testament Records compact disc of Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht and Schubert’s Quintet in C Major.
In 1997, the Cannes Classical Award voted by an international panel of record reviewers honored the recording of the Late Beethoven Quartets and honored the HSQ with its Lifetime Achievement Award, accepted by P. Shure, at the time the last surviving HSQ member.