Metropole 1123 Zika Wiegenlied, Dvořák Humoresque, Zika Quartet - Free Archive Audio

Richard Zika (1897-1947)

Wiegenlied
(mtx 1497)

Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904)

8 Humoresques for solo piano Op.101
VII. Poco lento e grazioso in G flat major
Arrangement for string quartet not credited on disc label; unidentified
(mtx 1499-2)

Zika String Quartet
Members, not named on disc labels:
Richard Zika (violin I)
Herbert Berger [Stitzenberger] (violin II)
Ladislav Černý (viola)
Ladislav Zika (’cello)

Recorded: December 1928(?), Highbury Athenaeum, London
Format: coarse-groove, 78 rpm, 10” / 25 cm, electrical
Matrices: as above
Issued: c. March 1929
Catalogue number: 1123

Probable recording data extrapolated from date of Zika Quartet’s visit to Britain for BBC broadcast and London concert, plus adjacent dated Metropole / Piccadilly matrices

Later reissued on Melba 1029 and Simcha 10023; on both, credited to pseudonymous Lido String Quartet, for contractual reasons

Transfer and restoration: Robert Cowlin for DogintheManger
Photographs: DogintheManger

Contemporary sources
‘Here are some wonderful recordings’ (Metropole advertisement), The Gramophone Critic, Vols.I No.6, March 1929, and No.7, April 1929, rear covers
Unsigned review, The Gramophone Critic, Vol.I No.7, April 1929, p.273
Review by M., Mexborough & Swinton Times, Friday 1 November 1929, p.8
Reprint of above in Penistone, Stocksbridge and Hoyland Express, Saturday 2 November 1929, p.8