Haydn by the Musical Art Quartet

The Musical Art Quartet, 1926-27

Last fall, when I was doing my "reissues," I re-uploaded a Schubert recording by the Musical Art Quartet (Sascha Jacobsen and Bernard Ocko, violins; Louis Kaufman, viola; and Marie Roemaet-Rosanoff, cello), saying that it was one of three major recordings that this ensemble made for Columbia in the late 1920s.  Well, here's another - and, as it happens, the first of the three, made only a year after the group's founding in 1926:

Haydn: Quartet in C Major, Op. 54, No. 2 and
Haydn: Quartet in D Major, Op. 64, No. 5 ("The Lark") - Finale
The Musical Art Quartet
Recorded January 27, April 4 and April 21, 1927
Columbia Masterworks Set No. 69, three 78-rpm records
Link (FLAC files, 65.19 MB)
Link (MP3 files, 27.4 MB)

In the earlier post concerning the Musical Art Quartet, I mentioned also that Sascha Jacobsen was the famous member of the group at the time, even to being one of the names mentioned in the title of a 1922 Gershwin song, "Mischa, Jascha, Toscha, Sascha."  (The others, of course, are Elman, Heifetz and Toscha Seidel.)  At the time, that song was familiar to me only by reputation; this state of affairs changed two days ago, however, thanks to YouTube.  Not one of the Gershwins' better efforts, perhaps, but it is rather fun nevertheless.

Tully Potter informs me that the Musical Art Quartet was in existence until 1944, and that Jacobsen and Roemaet-Rosanoff were the two constant members.  (This means that Jascha and Sascha played together, when Heifetz, Sanromá and the Musical Art Quartet recorded the Chausson Concert for Victor in 1941.)  Shortly after founding, second violinist Bernard Ocko was replaced by Paul Bernard, who also remained until 1944.  (Ocko plays on the Haydn set, and Bernard on the Schubert.)  Louis Kaufman gave up the viola chair in 1933 to the, confusingly, almost identically-named Louis Kievman (later to play in the Stuyvesant Quartet); in 1937 William Hymanson became the violist.