Quartetto Italiano

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The Quartetto Italiano was an Italian string quartet .

Career

Four young Italian music students formed a string quartet towards the end of the war in 1945: Paolo Borciani and Elisa Pegreffi, first and second violin, respectively, Lionello Forzanti, viola, and Franco Rossi on cello. They came from different cities in Italy. And although the traffic conditions at the time made their first get-togethers difficult, the young musicians stuck together and met regularly to make music before they had finished their music studies. When they finally went public for their first concert appearances, they initially called themselves Nuovo Quartetto Italiano.

The new quartet quickly became known in Italy. In 1947 Forzanti left the quartet. With Piero Farulli on viola it got its final shape. This year they made their first guest appearance in England. Tours through France, Spain, Scandinavia, Holland and Germany followed. In 1951 there was the first invitation to concerts in the USA. A few months before leaving, the ensemble changed its name and was henceforth called Quartetto Italiano.

This was followed by more than three decades of making music together, always in the same formation found in 1947. Only in the last few years has Dino Asciolla been replaced again in 1977, who in turn replaced Farulli. With the death of the primary violinist Paolo Borciani in 1985, the Quartetto Italiano dissolved.

The members of the quartet

  • Paolo Borciani (1922–1985), 1st violin
  • Elisa Pegreffi (1922–2016), 2nd violin
  • Piero Farulli (1920–2012), viola from 1947 to 1977
  • Franco Rossi (1921–2006), violoncello

Only changes to the line-up on the viola:

  • Lionello Forzanti (1913–2009) from 1945 to 1947
  • Dino Asciolla (1920–1994) from 1977 to 1980

Recordings and awards

In addition to countless concert appearances all over the world, there were also many recordings. The first recording was for Debussy and took place in Switzerland for Telefunken in 1946 . They moved to Decca in 1948, then signed Columbia Records in 1953 , and finally stayed with Philips from 1965 until their last recording in 1979 .

The repertoire of the Quartetto Italiano ranged from quartet arrangements of compositions of the Italian Baroque (in the 50s) to Luigi Boccherini and the focus on Viennese classic to the complete recording of the quartet works by Anton Webern . In addition to the Debussy and Ravel quartets , they recorded Schubert's String Quartet No. 13 “Rosamunde” and the “Quartettsatz” (D 703) three times over the years.

Many of the recordings of the Quartetto Italiano were awarded prizes, for example a Diapason d'or in 1966 and the German Record Critics' Prize for a recording of Schubert's string quartets No. 10 D 87 and the “Rosamunde” quartet No. 13 D 804 (which was exceptional for the Concert Hall Society appeared). For their recording of the Brahms 'and Schumanns quartets, they received the German Record Critics' Prize a second time in 1972, a Dutch Premio Edison and the French Grand Prix des Discophiles. For their third recording by the “Rosamunde” quartet, they were awarded another Edison Prize.

Discography (selection)

  • The Early Recordings (1946-1952) (Amadeus, 7-CD box, 2009)
  • Debussy, Ravel - string quartets (Philips, 1966, 1987)
  • Beethoven - The String Quartets (Philips, 10-CD compilation with recordings from 1967 to 1975, 1996)
  • Schubert - The Last Four Quartets (Philips Duo, 2-CD Comp., 1995 and 2010)
  • Brahms, Schumann - String Quartets op.67 and op.41 / 2 (Philips, 1971)
  • Anton Webern - Complete Works for String Quartet (Philips, 1970, 1990)
  • Mozart - Complete String Quartets (Philips; Decca "Collectors Edition" 2013 with 8 CDs)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See the discography , compiled by Enrico Gustav, which was also taken from the quartet's homepage.