London String Quartet
Columbia Electrics Volume 1
Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
String Quartet No.14 in D minor, D.810 ‘Death and the Maiden’ (1824)
Piano Quintet in A major, D.667 ‘The Trout’ (1819)
String Quartet No.12 in C minor, D.703 ‘Quartettsatz’ (1820)
String Quintet in C major, D.956 (1828)
Frank Bridge (1879-1941)
Three Idylls, H.67 (1906)
An Irish Melody ‘The Londonderry Air’ H.96 (1908)
Ethel Hobday (piano), Robert Cherwin (double bass), Horace Britt (cello)
rec. 1925-28, Columbia Studios, London and New York City,
Pristine Audio PACM127 [67+73]

There’s never been a better time than today to enjoy the records of the London String Quartet. Long overlooked in the reissue marketplace but for their pioneering 1917 recording of Vaughan Williams’ On Wenlock Edge with Gervase Elwes, which saw a reissue back on LP, we now have a variety of labels perceptive enough to appreciate their great strengths. The Music & Arts box, which restored their live Library of Congress performances allied to a miscellaneous selection of their commercial legacy is the place to start but if you want a focused look at the repertoire you can try St Laurant Studio, with its rather up-and-down transfers and, now, Pristine Audio.

This isn’t, in fact, the first time that Pristine Audio has transferred their recordings. Using their XR technology they transferred Schubert’s Quintet in C a number of years ago, a disappointing piece of work, so it’s good that they have given the job of transferring the LSQ’s electrical recordings, of which this is volume 1, to Mark Obert-Thorn.

The Death and the Maiden Quartet, along with the Bridge Idylls and his Irish Melody, are the earliest items in this volume, early electrics dating from late 1925. A stratum of surface noise has been left in the better to appreciate the recording quality obtained by Columbia’s engineers, ensuring that we can hear the foursome in as much detail as possible. The LSQ was an outstanding ensemble, led at this time by James Levey, with Thomas Petre, Harry Waldo Warner and Warwick Evans, and their approach to the repertoire was pragmatic, thoroughly considered and predicated on modern tonal production rather than the more old-fashioned sounds heard by some of their contemporaries. They employed portamenti but it was never overdone, and phrasing is never syrupy. Consequently they offer a bracing account of the Schubert, a couple of minor intonation issues aside, and two players in particular should be mentioned – the two who tend not to be mentioned in reviews, notably the second violinist, Thomas Petre, an admirable musician, and the violist Harry Waldo Warner who proves his mettle throughout, not least in the slow movement.

Bridge’s Three Idylls is one of the LSQ’s most idiomatic and successful recordings. The performance is irresistible, richly evocative and with just the right qualities of reticence and assertion. The dynamics are well scaled, and the whole ethos is redolent of a lost time.

The Trout and the String Quintet in C major were both recorded in 1928 in New York City where the group was popular. They were intended for the celebrations for the centenary of Schubert’s death, when Columbia released a slew of recordings. The former features Irish pianist Ethel Hobday, an experienced player well versed in studio conditions – she was Albert Sammons’ mother-in-law – and American bass player Robert Cherwin. The quartet was now led by John Pennington, lithe and characterful, and the performance is admirably buoyant and communicative. The taut Quartettsatz was included in the Music & Arts box.

The transfers of this material are far more expert and persuasive than those of St Laurant Studio. There’s a brief Producer’s Note to help you orientate the quartet’s history and recordings. This twofer represents an admirable start to this series.

Jonathan Woolf