Description
The Austrian violinist Rudolf Kolisch was unusual in that he played the violin with the bowing and fingering hands reversed. A severe injury to his left hand in his teens forced him to re-learn the instrument playing with the opposite hands, and this required a modified and re-strung violin. Despite this handicap Kolisch developed into a first-class violinist. After serving in the First World War, Kolisch became interested in the music of Arnold Schoenberg with whom he studied intensively from 9am to 5pm five days a week. Kolisch eventually developed a lifelong friendship with Schoenberg, and two years later, Kolisch became Arnold Schonberg's brother-in-law when the composer married the violinist's sister Gertrud. In 1922 Kolisch established the Wiener Streichquartett (Viennese String Quartet) specifically to perform new music by Schoenberg and his pupils. By 1927, the quartet was renamed the Kolisch Quartet and was firmly established with Felix Khuner on second violin, Eugene Lehner on viola and Benar Heifetz as cellist. Most unusually, the Kolisch Quartet performed all the works featured in their concert from memory. Although renowned for their championing of contemporary music, the Kolisch Quartet were especially noted for their interpretations of Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert. This 2-CD features two late Mozart quartets and the two great Schubert String Quartets in A minor and G major. Also included is the Schumann Piano Quartet in E-flat with the American-born pianist Hortense Monath. A student of Ernest Hutcheson and Artur Schnabel, Monath was fine chamber musician but also an accomplished soloist who played with all the major American orchestras including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the NBC Symphony.
