Quintetto Chigiano

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Quintetto Chigiano was an Italian musical ensemble comprising a string quartet with pianoforte, and was especially active during the 1940s-1960s.

1 Personnel
2 Origins
3 Recordings
4 Sources

[edit] Personnel

The personnel of the Quintet were made up as follows:

1st violin: Riccardo Brengola (leader)
2nd violin: Mario Benvenuti
viola: Giovanni Leone
violoncello: Lino Filippini
piano: Sergio Lorenzi

[edit] Origins

The Quintetto Chigiano was founded in Siena, Italy, in 1939 and took its name from the Accademia Chigiana, which was founded by Count Chigi-Saraceni. It was one of the rare permanent quintets in the world. The Quintet had the use of the four best instruments from Count Chigi-Saraceni's private collection, namely a Camillo Camilli and a Guadagnini violin, an Amati viola and a Stradivarius violoncello.

[edit] Recordings

The Quintet made several recordings for Decca Records:

Bloch, Piano quintet (1924) (Decca LP LXT 2626). (EMG review Dec. 1951).
Boccherini, Piano quintet in A major (op posth) and quintet in D minor (Decca LP LXT 2841). (EMG review March 1954).
Brahms, Piano quintet in F minor, op 34 (Decca LP LXT 2687). (EMG review June 1952).
Dvořák, Piano quintet in A major op 81 (Decca LP LXT 2519). (EMG review Nov 1950).
Franck, Piano quintet in F minor (1879) (Decca LP LXT 2520). (c. 1950).
Shostakovich, Piano quintet op 57 (Decca LP LXT 2749). (EMG review Dec 1952).

Having played all these tunes, during the 1960s the Quintet reformed itself into a Sextet.

[edit] Sources

E. Sackville-West and D. Shawe-Taylor, The Record Year 2 (Collins, London 1953).
E.M.G., The Art of Record-Buying 1960 (London 1960).
E.M.G., The Monthly Newsletter (London)
Printed flyer for Royal Festival Hall concert of Boccherini, Brahms and Dvořák. (early 1950s).