The Budapest String Quartet

              The Budapest String Quartet

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BIOGRAPHY — The Budapest String Quartet is comprised of Josef Roismann, first violin; Edgar Ortenberg, second violin; Boris Kroyt, viola; and Mischa Schneider, violoncello.  The name of the organization is old and eminent, for it goes back many years in the annals of European musical life.  The present personnel, in expanding the physical radius of their activity, have maintained the tradition of preeminence attaching to their name, but at the same time they have brought their actual performance to a degree of excellence hitherto unprecedented.  Before joining the Quartet each of these brilliant artists had acquired a musical background the variety and richness of which could only result from greatly varied experience.

All the world over the Budapest String Quartet is hailed as the superlative interpreter of chamber music.  In the United States alone (where the artists are now permanently settled) the growth of their popularity is astonishing.  Their American debut occurred at Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y., in December, 1930.  A few days later they completely captured the public and critics of New York City.  That first season here the Budapest String Quartet played some twenty concerts.  Last season, just thirteen years later, America heard them over eighty times.  Each season the attraction and the popularity of the Quartet increases and the demand for their services is greater.


FIFTH ANNUAL CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL
Lecture Hall, Rackham Building
JANUARY 19 and 20 (3 concerts)

Season Tickets, with tax: $3.00 - $2.40 - $1.20

Single Concerts, with tax: $1.20 and 60 cents

Address: CHARLES A. SINK, President
University Musical Society, Burton Memorial Tower
Victor & Columbia Records



Exclusive Management ANNIE FRIEDBERG 251 W. 57 St., New York 19, N.Y.




Unsurpassed Artistry and Superb Musicianship
Superlative Budapest Quartet Shows Smoothness and Great Vitality
Past Master of the Quartet Medium

New York Herald-Tribune: January 4, 1944.
Upholding its standard of surpassing excellence of playing, the Budapest Quartet performed yesterday at Town Hall in the New Friends of Music's Beethoven series.
Especially notable was the ensemble's work in Op. 130, in the lovely andante con moto and again in the caressing passages of the cavatina, both of which movements were played with the infinite skill, grace and feeling which make for a perfect performance.



New York Sun: December 6, 1943.
The Budapest Quartet, in its first appearance of the season with the New Friends of Music at Town Hall late yesterday afternoon, reaffirmed its outstanding position among current chamber music ensembles.  As the cycles of quartets seem to go, it is now at the high point in its orbit as a result of its qualities of vigor and accuracy, and its ability to provide an unflagging impetus to keep the playing continuously alive.  The playing of this ensemble is usually a delight.


New York Herald-Tribune: November 23, 1942.
Both of the Haydn quartets went with the beauty of tone and mastery of detail for which the Budapest ensemble is famous.


New York Times: November 16, 1942.
It was a privilege to hear the splendid First Quartet of Schumann.  The composition found ideal interpreters in the members of the superb Budapest Quartet, who could hardly have provided a reading more keen in insight.  A model of brilliant ensemble work.


Philadelphia (Pa.) Record: February 26, 1944.
BUDAPEST QUARTET IS SUPERB IN ORCHESTRA PENSION CONCERT
The Budapest ensemble is by international consent one of the finest string quartets today.  And just what that superlative can mean in terms of the ultimate in music was demonstrated last night in what was less a concert than an exquisite and deeply moving musical experience.
Musically, the Budapest Quartet adds up to more than the sum of the four artists in its personnel.  It is a superb musical instrument, fine-grained in its sensitivity, silken in its fluency, gem-like in the polish of its ensemble.
And last night it lent its collective perfections to a notably well-chosen program, which included two standard treasures of the repertoire — the Mozart Clarinet Quintet and the Beethoven Second Rasumowsky Quartet (Op. 59, No. 2) as well as a fine new quartet by Paul Hindemith.
This was the Quartette in E Flat Major, composed during the past year and heard here for the first time last night.
It was a rewarding premiere.
The concluding Beethoven came as a final study in the enchantment of ensemble perfection, and a deeply moving musical delight.



Chicago (Ill.) Sun: August 11, 1943.
Chamber music at Ravinia last evening was a gala occasion for the large gathering of music-lovers which filled the pavilion.
The performers have so unified their artistic individualities, so perfected their synchronization of thought and feeling that the playing of the group constitutes a consummation of the difficult feat of making four instruments sound like one.
The playing of Beethoven's quartet was a revelation of all that is most delectable in chamber music performance.



Chicago (Ill.) Daily News: August 11, 1943.
The Haydn quartet, known as The Horseman, was the first work presented by the distinguished members of the Budapest Quartet last night and in an instant their remarkable sensitivity to each other was manifested in their perfect synchronization.  The richness of their tone, too, is something to marvel at.


Chicago (Ill.) Times: August 11, 1943.
The Budapest String Quartet—the only chamber music organization, it seems, that can make local audiences listen to music written for a smaller ensemble than a symphony orchestra—returned last night for its third season at Ravinia.
Each year a more enthusiastic welcome awaits these splendid artists; each engagement here brings them a larger and more diversified group of staunch admirers.
Their high artistry is as we remember it; the flawless sense of style, the fine balance and sensitive observance of detail, the perfection of their co-ordination—these things, happily enough, remain year after year.



St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press: Nov. 24, 1943.
BUDAPEST QUARTET `SATISFYING'
The celebrated Budapest String Quartet came to town Tuesday for the third time, thanks to the Schubert Club, and once more gave listeners a deeply satisfying experience.
What they have to offer is the very substance of music itself; none of the four asks or expects admiration of his technical accomplishment, admirable as it is; none of them is wondering how he would rate in a popularity poll, whether he is going to make the hit parade, or even the headlines, for his aim is to bring listeners, insofar as their perceptions will allow it, into the very presence of the composer hmself.
It was an evening of rich rewards.



Mankato (Minn.) Free Press: January 19, 1943.
There are emotional experiences in life which one never forgets; and to the almost capacity audience that heard the Budapest String Quartet this will be one of those times.
One asks the question, why, among the number of quartets in the concert field, one organization like this should be so outstanding and so far superior to the others.  Some of the reasons are their precision of attack, their impeccable taste in the use of dynamics and tempi; in short, the perfect musicianship of the individuals, blended in an ensemble that is at all times a model of clear voice discrimination.



Newark (N. J.) News: March 1, 1944.
BUDAPEST QUARTET IN FINE RECITAL
The Y.M.H.A.'s chamber music series made an inspiring and impressive start last night when the Budapest String Quartet played in its first appearance here.
The recital in every way justified the praise that has been heaped upon the quartet in its world travels.  The music the group created contained everything one seeks in ensemble performance—emotion, beautifully molded phrases, flawless clarity, rich tone and an interpretative spirit that welded these into a satisfying unity.  Single-minded purpose was apparent in every note played and the result could not help but rejoice the spirit.
The program was replete with breathtakingly lovely moments.  It was little short of amazing the range of tone color the four players achieved.
In sum, it was a memorable evening.



Michigan State News: (East Lansing, Mich.), January 14, 1944.
The Budapest Quartet, four soloists who play as one, were heard in concert last night in the Music auditorium playing the works of Haydn, Prokofieff and Brahms.
Brahms' Quartet in C minor … the consummate artistry of the players brought the house down.
The success of the evening was a deserved personal triumph for the performers.



Lansing State Journal: (Lansing, Mich.) January 14, 1944.
The Budapest String Quartet, one of the greatest chamber music ensembles of its kind, delighted an audience Thursday evening with its sublety of team work and incredible matching of tone.  Playing at times as one instrument, they evinced warm and sympathetic understanding of the composers from whom they played.  Their delicate phrasing, crisp technique and tonal balance were an inspiration to students, a source of enjoyment to the most casual music lover.


Louisville (Ky.) Courier-Journal: Jan. 22, 1944.
QUARTET GIVES UNFORGETTABLE PERFORMANCE!  … BUDAPEST STRING GROUP FASCINATES AUDIENCE
No one who heard the Budapest Quartet last night ever will forget it for it was one of those rare performances which was freely lustrous in its depths and beauty and intensity.  Many of the audience had heard Beethoven, Prokofieff, and Schubert, but they must have had a feeling of revelation as the Budapest Quartet played as only such music can be played.
The Beethoven quartet became charged with splendid energy and with an incredible wealth of tone, dignity and unfailing loveliness.
The D minor quartet is the best known of the Schubert quartets.  It was given a beautiful performance by the superb musicianship and youthful fire of these gifted artists.



Pittsburgh (Pa.) Post Gazette: January 7, 1943.
The perfection of technique, communicative insight and tonal eloquence that always marks the music-making of the Budapest String Quartet was heard again last night.
Chamber music of such a high standard as to almost defy criticism was the order of the evening throughout.




Louisville (Ky.) Times: January 22, 1944.
BUDAPEST QUARTET GIVES TREAT OF MUSICAL YEAR
With each new hearing of this organization, one is impressed again with the beauties of its work; with the merging of four great artists into a single musical personality; with the vitality, depth and warmth of the readings, and with the flawless interpretation of the works of the great masters.
The climax of the program came with the last number, the great Quartet in D minor (Death and the Maiden), by Schubert.  With a sustained flow of beautiful and widely varied tone the players built up a living interpretation of their intensely emotional music that was moving and sublime.



Louisville (Ky.) Times: January 28, 1943.
This superlative group opened the Series with a program to delight a music lover's heart.


Omaha (Neb.) World-Telegram: Nov. 27, 1943.
BUDAPEST QUARTET PLAYS ELOQUENT CHAMBER MUSIC
Unanimity of purpose, flawless teamwork, impeccable intonation and beauty of tone are taken for granted in any quartet of concert caliber.  This group had all these assets but to make their work more distinctive — even though judgment may be colored by so long a fast from chamber music — there seemed a measure of eloquence, a sense of proportion and a knack for getting under the skin of the music to surpass even results heard from many another similar organization.
Beethoven crowned the evening as only he can with the first of the three Rasoumowsky quartets.  The quartet gave it a glorious reading.



Dallas (Tex.) Morning News: February 2, 1943.
It was a rewarding evening as the Budapest gentlemen own a blended tone unmatched by any other organization extant.  Interpretatively they appear to follow on a single virtuosic intention.  Rarely before has quartet music been so communicative personally.


Northampton (Mass.) Hampshire Gazette: January 23, 1943.
UNSURPASSED ARTISTRY AND SUPERB MUSICIANSHIP
The concert of string quartets presented to a capacity audience by the Budapest String Quartet was one of unsurpassed artistry and superb musicianship.  The delicate nuances of phrasing and dynamics revealed, besides technical precision and facility, both great sensitivity to tonal balance and exceptional interpretative insight.



Buffalo (N.Y.) Courier-Express: Nov. 17, 1942.
Appearances in Buffalo by the Budapest String Quartet are experiences in the concert world cherished by chamber music devotees.  It is seldom that we are privileged to hear four such superb artists attain, through constant association and diligence, the homogeneity in all technical and interpretative matters demonstrated by the Budapest String Quartet on numerous occasions.


Seattle (Wash.) Star: February 15, 1943.
The Budapest String Quartet's playing and interpretation was as near perfection as has ever been heard here.


Seattle (Wash.) Post Intelligencer: Feb. 15, 1943.
The ensemble is a past master of the quartet medium, phrasing faultlessly and presenting a definitive interpretation of anything to which they set their bows.



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