First Piano Quartet

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The First Piano Quartet was a quartet of pianists first organized in the United States in 1941. Its founding members were Vladimir Padwa, Franz Mittler, Adam Garner, and Edward Edson. They were originally conceived of as a radio group. They made their New York concert debut in 1949.

The group had a magnificent sound, a tour de force. The First Piano Quartet toured extensively with their four Steinways during the late 1950s, and made recordings in the 1940s and 1950s. Most of their arrangements were made by Adam Garner.^[1]

By 1950, Padwa was replaced by George Robert.^[2] In 1957 he was replaced by William Gunther. They renamed themselves the Original Piano Quartet and appeared at Town Hall, New York, on March 29, 1962.^[3]

The First Piano Quartet's collection of music is housed in the Music Division of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

[edit] References

[edit] Bibliography

• David Ewen, Encyclopedia of Concert Music. New York; Hill and Wang, 1959.

Highly-collectable magnificent early LP (long play) recordings of the 1950s were on RCA Victor in monaural (not stereo). One of particular note included: Turkish March (Mozart) and Danse Macabre (Saint Saens). Memory fails at this point but I will recall more selections and post. They also had an album of Ernesto Leucona that was great. I saw them perform live in Birmingham, AL in 1948.