The Boston Symphony Orchestra commissioned fifteen symphonic works as part of their 75th anniversary as an orchestra. These two were among those that Charles Munch recorded for RCA.
The sound is solid and detailed, with a nice mono sound brought out by my new AT-mono3/LP cartridge which I bought from a Japanese dealer. This is a "true" mono cartridge in that it responds only to horizontal motion and ignores vertical movement of the stylus. The resulting sound has an almost astonishing decrease in surface noise. Upper frequency details are much better focused. I hope you can enjoy this LP.
A note: in the recently-released box set of the complete RCA recordings of Charles Munch, this LP was issued as a stereo recording. There must have been a stereo tape master made that day as well as mono. I've heard the stereo version and the soundstage is admirably wide but not so wide that there is no middle. Pick up the box set on Amazon while it is still at a reasonable price!
We have here a fine and enjoyable rendition of this quartet by the venerable Fine Arts Quartet, recorded by the label Concert-Disc. If I am not mistaken, the label was originally called Webcor Tapes, but then eventually changed its name to Concert-Disc and still later was purchased by Everest which wound up being swallowed by one of the two or three big conglomerate record companies.
The Fine Arts Quartet (which is still in existence today -- albeit with different members, the way the Chicago Symphony Orchestra or Manchester City Football Club continue on despite personnel changes) was well known at this time (late 1940s through the late 1960s) for its especially clean and straight forward, seemingly effortless interpretations. I enjoy their entire Beethoven cycle, which was eventually released on multiple releases, three smaller box sets, and finally a big 9-LP box.
The cover suggests this quartet is in B flat yet the labels claim it is in Am. I believe the labels have it correct.
