Fine Arts Quartet

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The Fine Arts Quartet, founded in Chicago in 1946 by Leonard Sorkin and George Sopkin, is a distinguished chamber music ensemble with an extensive recording legacy. It is one of the few to have recorded and toured internationally for over half a century, celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2006. First violinist Ralph Evans succeeded Sorkin in 1982, second violinist Efim Boico joined in 1983, violist Yuri Gandelsman in 2001, and cellist Wolfgang Laufer replaced Sopkin in 1979.

[edit] Early years

In its early days, the Quartet did much to promote the appreciation of chamber music by their frequent radio broadcasts, television programmes and recordings. For many music lovers of the sixties and seventies, the quartet's budget-label recordings helped to popularise composers and works which were otherwise badly served. In particular, their recordings of the six quartets of Béla Bartók remain a landmark. The quartet recorded the works shortly after making a series of television programmes in which a performance of each quartet was preceded by interviews and commentary by the performers and amply illustrated by musical examples. The quartet's ability to communicate both the compositional and performing aspects of the works made them powerful advocates of what was then unfamiliar and avant-garde repertoire.

The quartet had its beginnings in 1946, with Leonard Sorkin and Joseph Stepansky on violins, Shephard Lehnhoff on viola and George Sopkin on cello. The quartet spent its first eight years in residence at the ABC studios in Chicago, but fell victim to the swing from live music to records which saw the demise of many radio station ensembles. In 1954, the quartet was dismissed by ABC and began life as a freelance ensemble. At that point, Irving Ilmer had replaced Lehnhoff as violist and Stepansky quit the group, to be replaced by Abram Loft, Lawrence Shapiro, and finally, Efim Boico in 1983. The Quartet had further changes of viola player, with Gerald Stanick succeeding Ilmer in 1963 and he, in turn, being replaced by Bernard Zaslav in 1968, Jerry Horner in 1980, and Yuri Gandelsman in 2001.

The quartet was nothing if not energetic in both their concert and recording schedules, playing in 270 cities in 28 countries by the late seventies and making 60 LP recordings. Their repertoire was vast, and they championed many twentieth century composers, including Milton Babbit, Ernest Bloch, Paul Hindemith, Karel Husa (whose third quartet was commissioned on their behalf), Jean Martinon (whose second quartet they commissioned), Seymour Shifrin (whose fourth quartet they commissioned) and Charles Wuorinen.

The quartet's versatility was evident too in their playing. Their recordings of the classical repertoire show a tightly-knit and often very 'contrapuntal' approach to playing, in which interplay between the ensemble can throw new light on familiar repertoire (especially the later quartets of Haydn. In their performances of twentieth century works, especially the quartets of Bartók, which call for an extended palette of sounds, the quartet are remarkable for the warmth of sound with which they support works which might sound cold or cerebral in lesser hands. Their feel for the valetudinarian sound world of Bloch was every bit as remarkable as the celebrated recordings by the Griller Quartet.

[edit] Later years (post 1980)

The Fine Arts Quartet continues to tour worldwide, with concerts each season in such musical centers as New York, London, Paris, Berlin, Rome, Madrid, Moscow, Tokyo, Beijing, Istanbul, Jerusalem, Mexico City, and Toronto. The Quartet also continues to record new works, adding to its collection of over 50 masterpieces released on CD since 1982 during the Evans-Boico-Laufer era. The complete Dohnányi quartets and quintets were released on Aulos in 2005, and the following are due for release in 2006-2007 on Naxos: the complete Schumann quartets, the complete Bruckner chamber music, chamber music by Glazunov, and quartets by American composers Antheil, Herrmann, and Evans. Quartets by Shostakovich and the complete Beethoven Opus 18 quartets are also due for release in 2007, on Lyrinx.

The Quartet's 2003 recordings of the complete Mozart viola quintets, released by Lyrinx in Sony's brilliant Super Audio CD format, were voted onto the 2003 Grammy entry list and designated a "Critic's Choice 2003" by the American Record Guide. The Quartet's commitment to contemporary music also won special recognition: a 2003-2004 national CMA/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming, given jointly by Chamber Music America and the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers.

The Quartet members have helped form and nurture many top international young ensembles. They have been guest professors at the national music conservatories of Paris and Lyon, as well as at the summer music schools of Yale University and Indiana University. They also appear regularly as jury members of major competitions such as Evian, Shostakovich, and Bordeaux. Documentaries on the Fine Arts Quartet have appeared on both French and American Public Television. For current information about the Fine Arts Quartet, see the official website www.fineartsquartet.org