Glenn Gould: String Quartet: first recording (1956) by the Montreal String Quartet

Glenn Gould collaborated with the Montreal String Quartet in this first recording of his String Quartet Op.1. As far as I can discover, it has never been released on CD. It was issued in 1956, with the composer’s name misspelled: The Montreal String Quartet gave the first performance of the work on May 21, 1956. This version is taken from this 1982 re-release: Noise reduction achieved with Click Repair software. The score is as published by Barger & Barclay in 1956; a new edition (along with other Gould compositions) is available from Schott. () An orchestrated version of the Quartet was announced but cancelled in 2017: From the Canadian Encyclopedia () The Montreal String Quartet (1955-63)/Le Quatuor à cordes de Montréal (1955-63) was composed of Hyman Bress and Mildred Goodman, violins, Otto Joachim, viola, and Walter Joachim, cello. Its first performance, 2 Mar 1955 at the Ermitage under the auspices of the CLComp, was devoted to works of Canadian composers: Vallerand, Papineau-Couture, Betts, Morel, Archer, Freedman, and Turner. Over the years the CBC IS and the CBC French and English networks often called upon the ensemble to perform or record Canadian works as well as the classical repertoire. It premiered Glenn Gould’s Quartet (1956), Otto Joachim’s Quartet (1957), and Clermont Pépin’s Quartet No. 2 (1956) and Quartet No. 4 (1960). The ensemble frequently performed for the Pro Musica Society, the Ladies’ Morning Musical Club, and the Montreal Festivals (1957, the Brahms Quintet with Glenn Gould, piano), and it also played in Toronto and other Canadian cities. In February 1958 it made its New York debut at the Carnegie Recital Hall; ’Characteristics of [the players’] interpretations were their good rhythmic sense and their obvious love for the music,’ reported Musical America (Mar 1958). During the 1959-60 season the quartet presented two series of six concerts in the Ermitage sponsored by the Canada Council. For these concerts, in addition to works of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, Debussy, Bloch, and Bartók, the quartet performed music by Pépin, Joachim, Papineau-Couture, and Weinzweig. When it disbanded during the 1962-3 season the quartet was considered one of the finest in Canada.