Hollywood String Quartet

The first American chamber music ensemble to reach an international audience, The Hollywood String Quartet originally consisted of Felix Slatkin and Paul Shure on violins, Paul Robyn on viola, and Eleanor Aller Slatkin on cello. From their foundation in 1946 until the end of the '50s, they explored a massive amount of chamber music repertory that had largely been ignored, not only in America but Europe as well, introducing several pieces in their definitive interpretations on record (for the Capitol label) and even doing one recording session with Frank Sinatra along the way.



Felix Slatkin and his wife, Eleanor Aller, were closely associated with the Hollywood studios from the 1930s onward. He was a conductor of the 20th Century-Fox Orchestra, while she was a member of the Warner Bros. Orchestra, and Paul Shure and Paul Robyn also played for the studios. Felix Slatkin also later became well known as a light classical conductor with The Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra. The studio work was extremely well-paid, however, and the pops programs of The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra gave them opportunity to perform some serious music, but the quartet grew out of the desire of all four of the members to play the kind of music they loved best, in their most personal manner.

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