Crossword Genius

Record collector knowing first about classical quartet (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

archivist

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'record collector' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'first about classical quartet' is the wordplay.
'first' becomes 'ist' (ist resembles ast).
'about' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'classical' becomes 'arch' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'quartet' becomes 'IV' (Roman numerals for four).
'arch'+'iv'='archiv'
'ist' put after 'archiv' is 'ARCHIVIST'.

'knowing' acts as a link.
I am not very happy about this link. It may be part of another bit of the clue.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for archivist that I've seen before include "Record keeper" , "record collector" , "Keeper of records" , "Chronicles specialist" , "One looking after records" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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