Raimondi, Matthew

Extremely prolific violinist who helped form the Mount Desert Festival of Chamber Music and the Composers String Quartet, which became a fixture at Columbia University and the New England Conservatory.

Raimondi had already established himself as a team player with the New Music Quartet, formed in 1947. Neither ensemble was shy about attacking modern and technically demanding works. Case in point: On 31^stMarch 1957, NMQ performed John Cage’s “String Quartet in Four Parts”. In 1963, they premiered Earle Brown’s “From Here” and Morton Feldman’s “The Straits of Magellan” and “Vertical Thoughts 1-5”.

On 10^th February 1975, CSQ sold out a recital of Elliott Carter’s String Quartets Nos. 2 & 3, necessitating an encore performance two days hence. In fact, CSQ would become something like champions of Carter’s quartets, performing nos. 1, 2 & 3 on 1^st June 1978 at Baird Recital Hall. Raimondi was the music director of CSQ from 1963 to 1996.

The years before, in between, and since have been dotted with live performances and studio gigs in nearly every musical genre. He crossed over from classical to jazz with ease, appearing on albums as diverse as Blue Note Plays Sinatra, the 1990 re-working of Girl Crazy, Handel: The Chandos Anthems I-VI, and Sesame Street Fever. You could also find him in the movie studio, playing violin on the soundtracks of Alan & Naomi, The Chamber, Everyone Says I Love You, The Specialist, Ulee’s Gold, and The Wiz.

He has recorded with a laundry list of artists and groups too numerous to mention here, but which includes Louis Armstrong, Patti Austin, the Backstreet Boys, Tony Bennett, Blood, Sweat & Tears, James Brown, Chic, Paquito D’Rivera, Gloria Estefan, the Fania All-Stars, James Galway, Stan Getz, Freddie Hubbard, Joe Jackson, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Lenny Kravitz, Hubert Laws, LL Cool J, Herbie Mann, Wynton Marsalis, Ricky Martin, Maxwell, Meco, Bette Midler, Stevie Nicks, Sinead O’Connor, Peter, Paul & Mary, P.M. Dawn, Don Rebic, David Sanborn, Arturo Sandoval, Lalo Schifrin, Carly Simon, Frank Sinatra, O.C. Smith, Spyro Gyra, Dawn Upshaw, Walter Wanderley, and Grover Washington, Jr.

In addition to the aforementioned quartets, Raimondi has also been a member of David Newman’s Quintet and Tentet, the Julliard Quartet, Pucho & His Latin Soul Brothers, and the Yale quartet. In 1988, he served as a tone judge for The Violin Society of America.

He and his wife are ardent supporters of the Island Housing Trust, an organization dedicated to the building of affordable housing on Mount Desert Island in Maine.

Frank Sinatra recordings
That’s What God Looks Like To Me (Stan Irvin/Lan O’Kun)
Reprise RPS 49233 (XNY2101S) (US 45)

Theme from “New York, New York” (Fred Ebb/John Kander)
Reprise RPS49233 (XNY 2103 S) (US 45)

Sources:

Raimondi, Matthew

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