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Paganini Quartet: When the stars aligned

2026-01-16T10:12:00

Henri Temianka Photographs Publicity (9)_Page_2

The Paganini Quartet was formed 80 years ago in Los Angeles, named after the four Stradivari instruments in its members’ charge. Tully Potter looks at the group’s dazzling but relatively short career

The immediate aftermath of World War II was a good time to found a string quartet, as most of the leading ensembles of the interwar years were either defunct, changed out of all recognition or on their last legs. Britain soon had the Amadeus Quartet, Italy the Quartetto Italiano and Czechoslovakia the Smetana. In America, the Juilliard and New Music quartets emerged, as well as a group that looked, to all intents and purposes, like a Belgian quartet…

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