(The Ondricek Quartet - Mozart in wartime)

Mozart this Sunday, as recorded in April of 1944 by German Odeon of the String Quartet Nr. 3 K. 156 performed by the Czech ensemble The Ondricek String Quartet. Since the war would take a dramatic turn just two months later, its pretty doubtful this recording was very widely circulated in the German occupied countries or anywhere else for that matter. I haven't seen it reissued anywhere, either on lp or CD and I suspect the masters were no doubt destroyed. The Ondricek String Quartet were a well respected ensemble, together since 1921 with a few personnel changes, all the way to the late 1940s. They weren't prolific as far as recording was concerned, and virtually none of their releases (except for one) were available outside of Czechoslovakia. So anything they did would be welcome for most collectors.

Hopefully this is one of them.