Music & Arts CD-1253 (8 CDs)
The London String Quartet : 1917-1951 Recordings.

Includes 5 previously unissued complete concerts from the Library of Congress and newly restored rare 78 rpm recordings.
September 2011
* : Previously unissued.
LC  : Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Sound restorations : Lani Spahr.
Notes : Tully Potter.
CD 1 - 61:23
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) - String Quartet No. 9 in C major, Op. 59 No. 3 'Rasumovsky No. 3'
John Pennington (violin), Laurent Halleux (violin), William Primrose (viola), Warwick Evans (cello)*.

Johannes Brahms (1833-97) - String Quartet No. 3 in B flat major, Op. 67
John Pennington (violin), Laurent Halleux (violin), William Primrose (viola), Warwick Evans (cello)*
4/12/1943 LC.

CD 2 - 66:27
Claude Achille Debussy (1862-1918) - String Quartet in G minor, Op. 10
John Pennington (violin), Laurent Halleux (violin), Cecil Bonvalot (viola), Warwick Evans (cello)*
4/12/1943 LC.

Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) - String Quartet, Op. 76 No. 2 in D minor 'Fifths'
John Pennington (violin), Laurent Halleux (violin), Cecil Bonvalot (viola), Warwick Evans (cello)*
5/11/1943 LC - Col. L1633/35, Col. Studios, London.

Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) - String Quartet, Op. 76 No. 3 in C major 'Emperor'
John Pennington (violin), Laurent Halleux (violin), Cecil Bonvalot (viola), Warwick Evans (cello)
15-17/12/1924 - Col. L1633/35, Col. Studios, London.

CD 3 - 75:25
Robert Schumann (1810-56) - String Quartet No. 3 in A major, Op. 41 No. 3
James Levey (violin), Thomas Petre (violin), Waldo Warner (viola), Warwick Evans (cello)*.

Ernst Toch (1887-1964) - String Quartet No. 12, Op. 70
James Levey (violin), Thomas Petre (violin), Waldo Warner (viola), Warwick Evans (cello)*.

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) - String Quartet No. 11 in F minor Op. 95 'Serioso'
James Levey (violin), Thomas Petre (violin), Waldo Warner (viola), Warwick Evans (cello)*
21/2/1947, LC.

CD 4 – 66:52
Ernö Dohnányi (1877-1960) - String Quartet No. 2 in D flat major, Op. 15
John Pennington (violin), Laurent Halleux (violin), Edgardo Acosta (viola), Warwick Evans (cello)*.

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) - String Quartet No. 15 in A minor, Op. 132
John Pennington (violin), Laurent Halleux (violin), Edgardo Acosta (viola), Warwick Evans (cello)*
5/11/1948, LC.

CD 5 – 68:40
Franz Peter Schubert (1797-1828) - String Quartet No. 13 in A minor, D804 'Rosamunde'
John Pennington (violin), Thomas Petre (violin), Waldo Warner (viola), Warwick Evans (cello)*.

Ernest Bloch (1880-1959) - Pieces (5) for string quartet
John Pennington (violin), Thomas Petre (violin), Waldo Warner (viola), Warwick Evans (cello)
(1923–25)*.

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) - String Quartet in F major
John Pennington (violin), Thomas Petre (violin), Waldo Warner (viola), Warwick Evans (cello)
[2] 27/1/1950, LC.

CD 6 – 73:00
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-91) - String Quartet No. 19 in C major, K465 'Dissonance'
Albert Sammons (violin), Edwin Virgo (violin), Waldo Warner (viola), Warwick Evans (cello)*.

John Blackwood McEwen (1868-1948) - String Quartet No. 6 in A major 'Biscay'
Albert Sammons (violin), Edwin Virgo (violin), Waldo Warner (viola), Warwick Evans (cello)*.

Johannes Brahms (1833-97) - String Quartet No. 2 in A minor, Op. 51 No. 2
Albert Sammons (violin), Edwin Virgo (violin), Waldo Warner (viola), Warwick Evans (cello)*
2/3/1951, LC.

CD 7 – 63:03
César Auguste Franck (1822-90) - String Quartet in D major
John Pennington (violin), Thomas Petre (violin), Waldo Warner (viola), Warwick Evans (cello)*
Col. 67697/02D, 11/1928

Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) - On Wenlock Edge
Gervase Elwes (tenor), Frederick B. Kiddle (piano)
Albert Sammons (violin), Edwin Virgo (violin), Waldo Warner (viola), Warwick Evans (cello)
Col. 7363/65, 1917

CD 8 – 67:55
Franz Peter Schubert (1797-1828) - String Quartet No. 12 in C minor (fragment), D703 ‘Quartettsatz'
John Pennington (violin), Thomas Petre (violin), Waldo Warner (viola), Warwick Evans (cello)
Col. L1679R 4/11/1927, Col. Studios, London.

Edward William Elgar (1857-1934) - String Quartet in E minor, Op. 83 (abridged)
James Levey (violin), Thomas Petre (violin), Waldo Warner (viola), Warwick Evans (cello)
Vocalion D 02026/27; 1921, London.

Frank Bridge (1879-1941) - Three Idylls
James Levey (violin), Thomas Petre (violin), Waldo Warner (viola), Warwick Evans (cello)
Col. L1704/05 3/11/1925, Col. London.

Frank Bridge (1879-1941) - An Irish Melody, "Londonderry Air"
James Levey (violin), Thomas Petre (violin), Waldo Warner (viola), Warwick Evans (cello)
Col. L1716 17/11/1925, Col. London.

Fritz Kreisler (1875-1962) - String Quartet in A minor: Finale
James Levey (violin), Thomas Petre (violin), Waldo Warner (viola), Warwick Evans (cello)
Vocalion D 02027 1921, London.

Stephen Collins Foster (1826-64) - Melodies [8]
London DLP 5047 16/3, 20/4, 21/5, 21/6/1945; 18 /1, 7/6/1946, Los Angeles.
I Dream of Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair
Camptown Races
Old folks at home
Sweet Laura Lee
Beautiful Dreamer
Gentle Annie
O Susannah
Old Black Joe
John Pennington (violin), Laurent Halleux (violin), Cecil Bonvalot (viola), Warwick Evans (cello)

The year 2010 marked a century since the London String Quartet, known affectionately as the LSQ, gave its first concerts. Britain’s leading chamber ensemble for two decades, it was equally well known in America, where it competed on equal terms with the Flonzaley Quartet: in 1925 leading American critic Olin Downes hailed ‘the finest quartet playing that has been heard this Winter in New York’. The LSQ gave many premières, made myriad records and at different times included Albert Sammons and William Primrose. That almost no trace of the group remained in the catalogues in its centenary year was sad but easily explicable. Much of its recorded output was produced by the acoustic process; and often the music was abridged because the Columbia Graphophone Company was not fully committed to chamber music until around 1923. One can still enjoy those old discs, which represent the best of the neat, unfussy British string style; and some of them are reproduced here. But the five programmes performed at the Library of Congress from 1943 to 1951, issued here for the first time, inevitably give a better idea of the LSQ’s capabilities: for one thing, they are played straight through, before a sympathetic audience, rather than being done in a sterile studio by the old stop-start 78rpm method.

1st Violin:

2nd Violin:

Viola:

Cello: