In July 2020, Österreichische Mediathek completed the digitization of Arnold Schönberg's record collection, which consists of approximately 400 sound carriers. The end of the year will be marked by the broadcast of Schönberg's String Quartet No. 1 op. 7 in a recording by the Kolisch Quartet from the archives of the Arnold Schönberg Center.
Between December 29, 1936 and January 8, 1937, the Kolisch Quartet realized a complete recording of Arnold Schoenberg's string quartets at the United Artists film studio. The project was initiated by Alfred Newman, renowned film music composer in Hollywood and student of Arnold Schoenberg. A limited edition was sold to a select group of people. Gerald Strang, then Schönberg's assistant at UCLA, bequeathed his excellently preserved copy to the Arnold Schoenberg Institute in Los Angeles. Today it is in the archives of the Arnold Schönberg Center. The last one of the seven discs of the 1st String Quartet was apparently lost – therefore, Schönberg's special pressing with white, manually inscribed labels was used for the transfer. Thirteen record sides were needed to capture the approximately 40-minute composition – the remaining B-side of disc seven contains brief statements by all the people involved in the production.
On the day of the recording, December 29, at 7:30 p.m. the complete quartet will be live-streamed with a visualization through Schoenberg's autograph score.
