Leningrad Philharmonic Trombone Quartet

Most of the trombone quartet recordings before the 1990's consisted of a particular orchestra's trombone section seeing as how there were few substantial original works and only one real professional trombone quartet (Slokar Quartet, founded 1973).  There are only a few of these recordings and many of them are dated or of low quality by today's standards, but the Leningrad Philharmonic trombone section put out two fantastic quartet albums in the 70's. 

The first of these albums, Virtuosity of Trombone  (1973), features almost entirely works written for trombone quartet, which is surprising as there really aren't that many pieces by this time.  This includes works by Defaye, Bozza, Serocki, and Tomasi that are still part of the trombone quartet standard repertoire, as well as a few other lesser known works. 

The second album, Music for Trombone Quartet (1977) features arrangements for trombone quartet including Bach's Fugue from Toccata and Fugue in d Minor.  

While there are "better" recordings of many of these pieces today by professional ensembles with high quality recording gear, these recordings of Leningrad are fairly clean, have style, and, most importantly, put out these recordings of original works for trombone quartet when there were few other ensembles who could play them, setting a high standard for many years.