The Fine Arts Quartet at WFMT Unreleased Recordings of Broadcast Performances, 1967-73

The FAQ was one of the best-known chamber music ensembles during the LP era, thanks to its prolific broadcast appearances and recordings (few of which have made it onto CD). This set from Music and Arts, devoted exclusively to broadcast material from the late sixties and early seventies, is a welcome reminder of their achievement. Listeners of a certain generation will remember their trenchant Beethoven cycle for Everest. They are no less incisive here, in a broad range of repertoire from Haydn to rarely heard contemporary works by Husa, Shifrin and Martinon. Their interpretations are consistently satisfying to the intellect, even if they fall less gratefully on the ear due to a rather aggressive, one-dimensional tone and occasional, but serious, lapses of intonation. Given the quality of the recording--astonishingly good for historical broadcast material--and the FAQ's deep understanding of its chosen repertoire, there is enough positive about this set to recommend it, with qualifications noted, to chamber-music enthusiasts.

When I lived in the Chicago area, I listened often enough to WFMT, but I was not much into chamber music then and was only barely aware of the Fine Arts Quartet. Several decades ago, I got my first Concert-Disc LP of the Fine Arts Quartet. It was either their outstanding recordings of the Debussy and Ravel Quartets or Beethoven's Op. 59, No. 1, or perhaps, I got both of them at once. I have enjoyed them periodically ever since and their recordings of the Debussy and Ravel Quartets remain my all-time favorites, although there are other fine recordings of them.This set has 8 CDs of recordings of music by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms and 20th century composers Bartok, Hindemith, Martinon, Husa, and Shifrin. It starts off with 2 CDs of gracious performances of Beethoven's three "Rasoumovsky" quartets, Opus 59, and includes Op. 132. A fine performance of an early Beethoven quartet, Op. 18, No. 1, is on CD 7, which also has the Brahms' Trio for Violin, Piano, and Horn, Op. 40, and Mozart's Horn Quintet, K. 407, both with the great Barry Tuckwell.The third CD has three very early Haydn quartets, but also includes the more substantial Op. 20, No. 5. CD 4 has fine performances of three of Haydn's later quartets, Op. 64, No. 6 and Op. 76, Nos. 4 and 6.CD 5 includes has performances of Mozart's K. 458, one of the six dedicated to Haydn; Quartet K. 499; and a sensitive performance of a Piano Quartet, K. 493, with pianist John Browning, who obviously enjoyed working with the Fine Arts Quartet.CD 6 includes Mozart's Adagio and Fugue for string quartet, K. 546, and Brahms Quartet Op. 51, No. 2, and two 20th century works, Husa's String Quartet No.3 and Shifrin's Quartet No. 4. CD 8 has Bartok's Quartet No.3, Hindemith's Quartet No. 3, and Jean Martinon's Quartet No. 2. Like the Husa and Shifrin quartets, these are very modern sounding quartets, not as pretty and melodic as those by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Brahms. They seem very well played. The Hindemith isn't bad and I actually am beginning to appreciate the Bartok and Husa quartets.I got this set almost a year ago and I did not want to write a review before having lived with it for a while. As I indicated, I have been quite impressed with the FAQ for years based on the few of their LPs I have found over the years, and more recently, on the CD reissues of the six Bartok quartets and their beautiful recordings of the Mozart and Brahms Clarinet Quintets with Reginald Kell, an eminent clarinetist.The recordings in this set are said to be of broadcast performances from 1967-1973, sometimes with an audience--always extremely well behaved, it seems, as their presence is heard only with the applause at the end.The set contains a great variety of good music with some really fine performances. It shows the Fine Arts Quartet in fine form a few years before the end of what is sometimes called Sorkin-Sopkin era. The CD booklet says:"The quartet of those years, however, lives on in the esteem of many of today's established chamber musicians, as well as of young entrants into the profession, who grew up listening to the recorded performances of the ensemble."The set appears to meet its objectives of presenting the work of the old Fine Arts Quartet, and so I give it a top rating. The recording quality is good to very good.

The works I've listened to so far are the expected superb performances captured as excellent live sound recordings.The packaging seems from a former era: a sturdy box (I love that cover photo), each CD sealed in its own window-envelope, and a 48-page illustrated booklet with descriptions of all the works.