Biography
The Hollywood String Quartet made history as the initial American chamber ensemble to attract listeners worldwide, beginning with Felix Slatkin and Paul Shure handling the violins, Paul Robyn on viola, and Eleanor Aller Slatkin at the cello. Active from their 1946 founding through the close of the 1950s, the group revived an extensive body of chamber works long overlooked on both sides of the Atlantic, delivering several premier recorded interpretations for the Capitol label while also joining Frank Sinatra for one studio date.
Felix Slatkin and his spouse Eleanor Aller maintained deep ties to Hollywood film studios beginning in the 1930s, the former leading the 20th Century-Fox Orchestra and the latter performing in the Warner Bros. Orchestra; Paul Shure and Paul Robyn likewise contributed to studio ensembles. Felix later gained recognition conducting lighter classical repertoire with the Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra. Although lucrative studio assignments and Hollywood Bowl pops concerts provided outlets for more serious pieces, the four musicians formed the quartet to pursue the music they cherished most through intimate, personal performances.
Over a decade-long association with Capitol Records that stretched from 1948 until stereo emerged, the ensemble—with Alvin Dinkin assuming the viola chair from Paul Robyn onward in 1954—covered territory from Haydn and Hummel through Shostakovich. They prioritized works by living composers, consulting each whenever feasible; this approach produced still-authoritative accounts of Arnold Schoenberg’s Verklarte Nacht (“Transfigured Night”), Sir William Walton’s Quartet in A minor, and Hector Villa-Lobos’ Quartet No. 6 in E minor that retain their stature more than forty years later.
By 1956 the quartet’s stature extended beyond classical circles into popular-music spheres, prompting an invitation to appear on Frank Sinatra’s Close to You album despite the frequent marginalization of concert musicians within Hollywood’s film community. All four players had previously collaborated with Sinatra in various studio orchestras, yet the Capitol project represented a singular scaled-down conception by the singer and his arranger Nelson Riddle that endures among Sinatra’s most cherished recordings and a signal achievement for the group.
The ensemble undertook multiple American tours and one European excursion, both of which earned strong praise from critics and listeners. Their Capitol discs, later restored to compact disc in the 1990s following long neglect, reveal a refined ensemble sound marked by lustrous intonation together with transparent phrasing that allowed each instrument its own distinct character.
Felix Slatkin and his spouse Eleanor Aller maintained deep ties to Hollywood film studios beginning in the 1930s, the former leading the 20th Century-Fox Orchestra and the latter performing in the Warner Bros. Orchestra; Paul Shure and Paul Robyn likewise contributed to studio ensembles. Felix later gained recognition conducting lighter classical repertoire with the Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra. Although lucrative studio assignments and Hollywood Bowl pops concerts provided outlets for more serious pieces, the four musicians formed the quartet to pursue the music they cherished most through intimate, personal performances.
Over a decade-long association with Capitol Records that stretched from 1948 until stereo emerged, the ensemble—with Alvin Dinkin assuming the viola chair from Paul Robyn onward in 1954—covered territory from Haydn and Hummel through Shostakovich. They prioritized works by living composers, consulting each whenever feasible; this approach produced still-authoritative accounts of Arnold Schoenberg’s Verklarte Nacht (“Transfigured Night”), Sir William Walton’s Quartet in A minor, and Hector Villa-Lobos’ Quartet No. 6 in E minor that retain their stature more than forty years later.
By 1956 the quartet’s stature extended beyond classical circles into popular-music spheres, prompting an invitation to appear on Frank Sinatra’s Close to You album despite the frequent marginalization of concert musicians within Hollywood’s film community. All four players had previously collaborated with Sinatra in various studio orchestras, yet the Capitol project represented a singular scaled-down conception by the singer and his arranger Nelson Riddle that endures among Sinatra’s most cherished recordings and a signal achievement for the group.
The ensemble undertook multiple American tours and one European excursion, both of which earned strong praise from critics and listeners. Their Capitol discs, later restored to compact disc in the 1990s following long neglect, reveal a refined ensemble sound marked by lustrous intonation together with transparent phrasing that allowed each instrument its own distinct character.
Albums
Live
