Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Early Schubert by the Guilet Quartet

Back in November, Squirrel's Nest gave us a transfer of the first recording of Bartók's Fourth String Quartet played by the Guilet String Quartet for a Concert Hall limited edition release of 1946.  A year later, the same ensemble and label, in a general release this time, offered the early Schubert quartet which I present here, a recording mentioned in TIME Magazine's May 26, 1947 issue.  The article mentions Schubert's being 20 years old when he wrote it, but it's now believed he was actually 16, and that this is the last of five quartets Schubert wrote in 1813.  Whatever its genesis, it's a charming work well played by the Guilet ensemble:

Schubert: String Quartet in E-Flat, D. 87 (Op. 125, No. 1)
The Guilet String Quartet
Recorded c. 1946-47
Concert Hall Society Release AE, three vinyl 78-rpm records
Link (FLAC files, 45.81 MB)
Link (MP3 files, 29.52 MB)

5 comments:

  1. Thank you for this! The Guilet does good work. I haven't thought of them since my Bartok upload so i appreciate you bringing them once again to the fore. Cheers
    Squirrel

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  2. Replies
    1. Paul Terry!
      Well, well, well. I haven't seen you since 1975 - Mahler's 8th probably! Will you be going to the Birmingham University Reunion on 29th September?Please get in touch: mervyn@watlingmusic.com - we have some serious catching up to do!
      Best wishes,
      Mervyn Watling

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  3. I'm very late to the party, but thanks so much for posting this. I only recently discovered the Guilet. They rock!

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