The Hollywood String Quartet is considered to be the first American-born and trained classical music chamber group to make an international impact, mainly through its landmark recordings.
[5] Paul Shure (1921–2011) Second Violin; Studied at Curtis with Joseph Achron; youngest player in the Philadelphia Orchestra at age 18 under conductor Leopold Stokowski; Assistant Concertmaster at 20th Century Fox; left the HSQ in 1958 and shortly thereafter assumed a faculty position at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music; concertmaster of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra from 1972-1987 as well as other major west coast ensembles.
[1] 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 Hollywood String Quartet, you had four people who basically had the same kind of training; four people who were more or less of the same age group and who approached music in almost identical ways.
"[1] Music critic and historian Alfred Frankenstein wrote after attending an HSQ concert: "This is a quartet to rank with the great international organizations in the field ... it has magnificent collective tone, a superb style that overlooks no fine detail but also sweeps through the major lines of a big work with almost symphonic vigor, and a general concept of music-making that is in tradition of the ensemble.
[8] Five years later, a New York Times concert review echoed Frankenstein's comments: the HSQ produced a "luminous tone, whether in pianissimo or fortissimo ... at its best as in the Schubert work, which was played with incredible tonal nuance and expert musicianship, the Hollywood Quartet would have to be listed among the world's great chamber music ensembles.
6 to their Grammy-winning recordings of the Beethoven Late Quartets, the HSQ discography set a standard of excellence heralded by critics and embraced by the public.
As stated by critic Richard Freed in discussing a 1982 EMI compilation release, "The Hollywood String Quartet may have been the finest such ensemble ever formed in this country ... each of these performances could serve as a sort of norm for the interpretation of the respective work.
The CD reissues, released between 1993–1997, were remastered by Paul Bally at the Abbey Road Studios; Stewart Brown, Executive Producer.
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.
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.
"[2] In 1994, Gramophone Magazine inducted the CD re-issue of Verklärte Nacht, coupled with the Schubert String Quintet in C major 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.
"[13] 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 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.
"[3] The HSQ toured in the United States seven times, and visited Canada and New Zealand, but due to the musicians' extensive studio commitments, concerts were primarily performed in Southern California.
In 1994, the Hollywood String Quartet 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.
Leonard Slatkin is a distinguished conductor and is music director of the Detroit Symphony and the Orchestre National de Lyon.
Frederick Zlotkin (who adopted the original family surname) is the first cello of the New York City Ballet Orchestra and a member of the Lyric Piano Quintet.