THE INTERNATIONAL
STRING QUARTET:
André Mangeot (violin); Walter Price (violin) ; Eric Bray (viola) ;
Jack Shinebourne (violoncello)
SOFFI SCHONNING (soprano)
THE RUSSIAN PUBLISHER, Belaiev, who founded the celebrated publishing house that bears his name, was one of the most remarkable of those men who helped to make modern Russian music a European influence. Cultured and wealthy, he collected round him the principal Russian composers of his day, and without seeking profit or stinting expense, he published lavishly and intelligently all the music these men chose to write. Belaiev's publishing activities may be said to have endowed a school and advanced a nation.
Many of these composers, anxious to make a gesture of their gratitude, made a habit of paying homage to Belaiev in the form of certain compositions written to be performed on the Friday evenings when they customarily met at the house of their hospitable publisher. These little works, mostly in the form of chamber music, were labours of love and are in ton-sequence charming rather than important. There are sixteen in all, written by Rimsky-Korsakov, Liadov, Glazounov, Borodin, Sokolov, amongst others, and published under the title of Les Vendredis.