1929 M-63 FLONZALEY STRING QRT SMETANA QUARTET in E MINOR "From My Life" 78

$

40

WEEK 1 of 2 weeks of great auctions,  until February 12.

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I am currently selling a series of great operatic and classic European 78 rpm orchestral recordings on all the great European labels:

1927 first electrical recording  of the famous Smetana Quartet by the Flonzaley Quartet.

Flonzaley Quartet (Musical group) 
Iwan d'Archambeau (instrumentalist: cello) 
Nicolas Moldavan (instrumentalist: viola) 
Adolfo Betti (instrumentalist: violin) 
Alfred Pochon (instrumentalist: violin) 

SMETANA: String Quartet No. 1, “From My Life”;

Among the pioneers of chamber music ensembles in the early days of both acoustical and electrical recordings, the Flonzaley Quartet (1902-1929) stands out as a true inspiration, esteemed for their inscriptions of the Brahms and Schumann piano quintets, with Harold Bauer and Ossip Gabrilowitsch, respectively.

Recorded on 20 March 1929 for Victor  at their Camden, New Jersey studios for M-63.  Their recording of the 1876 “confessional” quartet From My Life by Smetana features exemplary playing from the ensemble’s viola, Nicolas Moldavan. His grainy incisive attacks in the first two movements, and especially in the visceral Polka, command enduring respect. The Largo sostenuto–admittedly an expression of ardent love personal and national–has cellist Iwan d’Archambreau in plaintive figures, answered by the two upper strings, Adolfo Betti and Alfred Pochon, the latter of whom arranged the folk and traditional tunes included in this collection. Betti’s piercing nasal tone leads the series of meditations that occasionally swell to tragic anguish and a sense of imminent loss. The organ sound of the four players in the unisono passages quite assaults our sympathy for the tragedy in Smetana’s emotional life. The last movement with its sustained, high E – emergent in the midst of an otherwise vibrant dance – that indicates the obsessive tone in Smetana’s ears, rings with bitter devastation, the descending chords reminiscent of the saddest Schubert.

?Original Orthophonic  recording in original cloth covered album with patterned sleeves Album M-63

3x12" Victor Scoll 78 rpm records

Condition: EXCELLENT, but some scuffing throughout, rare faintest scratch, Album is great with light foxing of front cover. Plays E quiet for an early scroll set. A GREAT COPY

The Flonzaley Quartet was a string quartet organized in New York City in 1902, which was highly esteemed. The group disbanded in 1928.

Personnel

The original personnel of the group were as follows:
1st violin: Adolfo Betti
2nd violin: Alfred Pochon
viola: Ugo Ara (until 1917), replaced by Louis Bailly (until 1924), and by Félicien d'Archambeau.
violoncello: Iwan d'Archambeau
[edit]Origins

The Quartet was the deliberate creation of Éduard J. de Coppet of New York, who in 1902 engaged the original members to devote themselves entirely to quartet-playing, and not with any view to giving regular concerts in public. The group took its name from de Coppet's summer villa near Lausanne, in Switzerland, where the four musicians first rehearsed. After a long period of practice, the Quartet made a European tour and won high praise for the perfection of its ensemble and its artistic finish. Both violinists and the violist had been students of the Belgian maestro César Thomson. The group was first heard in New York, in private and at charity concerts, in autumn 1904, but it did not give a public concert in the USA until 5 December 1905. After that it appeared regularly in Europe and America. The members stuck to the original principle of not accepting any outside engagement, and having no pupils, and by devoting themselves entirely to the quartet maintained a position of acknowledged superiority in their field.
In 1914 the group asked Igor Stravinsky to write them a work. This resulted in his "Three pieces for String Quartet". A few years later they also commissioned him to write "Concertino", a one-movement work. Éduard de Coppet died in 1916, and his son André continued thereafter to maintain the Quartet. The original violist Ugo Ara left the group to join the Italian army, resulting in his replacement. The Quartet performed worldwide until disbanding in 1928 after a farewell tour that ended on April 14 in London. However, their recording of the Haydn 'Lark' quartet (below) could still be described as 'in prep.' in 1936.
[edit]Recordings

The Flonzaley recorded for Victor/His Master's Voice by both the acoustic horn and electric microphone methods. Among their recordings of longer works are the following:
Beethoven: Quartet Op 18 no 2 (V 1218-21/DA 851-854).
Beethoven: Quartet in E flat major op 127 (V 7629-33/DB 1377-81).
Beethoven: Quartet in F major op 135 (V 122-125/DA 847-850).
Brahms: Quintet in F minor op 34 with Harold Bauer, piano (V 6571-5/DB970-4).
Dohnányi: Quartet no 2 in D flat major op 15 (V 7354-6/DB 1135-7).
Haydn: Quartet in D major op 64 no 5 (V 7650-1).
Mozart: Quartet in D minor K 421 (V 7607-8/DB 1357-8).
Mozart: Quartet in D major K 575 (DA 947-9 ('V 1585-7' not issued?)).
Schubert: Quartet in G major op 161 (V 7475-8/DB 1373-6).
Schumann: Quintet in E flat major op 44 with Ossip Gabrilowitsch, piano (V 8092-5/DB 1191-4).
Smetana: Quartet no 1 in E minor (V 7130-2/DB 1359-61).

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Here is a guideline for US Media Mail Shipping - US Mail Prices went up by 4% in 2012:

Prices below are for regular 78 rpm records. Up to about 5 records, I will ship Edison Discs for the same rates. Albums from Album Sets count as 1 record. Above that and for international shipments, it will be actual weight plus a small packing charge (1-3$ depending on size of shipment)

1 record: 4.85$

2 records: 5.75$

5 records: 7.75$

10 records: 9.75$

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Prices below are for regular 78 rpm records. For Edison Discs in  international shipments, it will charge for the actual weight plus a small packing charge (1-2$) - for small quantities, it will not be much different from the charge for regular 78s.

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1 record = 2 lbs $25 - $28

4 lbs = $37

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