Despite being named after the violist William Primrose, the eponymous quartet was an ensemble of superstar soloists, consisting of Oscar Shumsky (first violin), Josef Gingold (second violin), and Harvey Shapiro (cello). This 3-CD set contains the legendary Quartet’s complete recordings on RCA Victor, made in the early 1940s, just before the American Federation of Musicians’ ban which curtailed the making of recordings in the US for over two years. Besides the first complete recording of Haydn’s deeply reflective Seven Last Words of Christ and an electrifying performance of Smetana’s “From My Life” Quartet, the set includes the beloved Schumann Piano Quintet, featuring pianist Jesús María Sanromá. Also included in this set are three works that were never issued on 78 rpm records: Mozart’s G major String Quartet, Brahms’s Third Quartet in B flat and the Scherzo from Tchaikovsky’s Third Quartet. After an absence of 20 years, this release returns to the Biddulph catalogue in newly refurbished transfers.