The Loewenguth Quartet of Paris was founded in 1929 by the legendary French violinist Alfred Loewenguth (1911 – 1983). The quartet, already known and respected internationally in the 1930s, made their first North American tour in 1945 and remained active for four decades, touring the world. Following their November 1948 New York concert, Virgil Thomson wrote in The New York Herald-Tribune: ”The Loewenguth Quartet comes as near perfection in classical style as any group I have heard” and after their first New York concert of the 1949/50 season Olin Downes wrote in The New York Times: “It was a passionate, wonderfully colored and perfect performance of the highest order.” In the late 1930s and 1940s HMV recorded the Loewenguth Quartet in works of Mozart and Beethoven. From 1949 and during the 1950s the quartet recorded several albums with Deutsche Grammophone/Archive and was awarded the prestigious Grand Prix du Disque. The quartet had a long association with the Vox label and also made recordings for Philips, Westminster, Les Discophiles Francais, Club National du Disque and a few smaller French and American labels. This DOREMI set contains studio recordings made between 1945 to 1972. Most are first time on CD.