Pavel Haas Quartet
Adagio. con moto, from Janacek's String Quartet No. 1, after Tolstoy's Kreutzer Sonata
Friday, November 6, 2009
8:00 p.m.
Mahaney Center for the Arts, Concert Hall
Pavel Haas Quartet
Veronika Jaruskova, violin
Eva Karova, violin
Pavel Nikl, viola
Peter Jarusek, cello
Immediately after their passionate, insightful, and well-received 2008 Middlebury recital, we re-engaged the young Pavel Haas Quartet to return this fall to perform Britten’s Divertimenti, the Ravel Quartet, and Dvořák’s op. 106 in G Major. A pre-concert lecture on the 90-year history of the Middlebury College Performing Arts Series begins at 7:15 p.m. Sponsored by the Middlebury College Performing Arts Series.
Reserved Seating. Tickets: $24/18/6
http://go.middlebury.edu/tickets or 802-443-MIDD (6433).
Program:
BRITTEN Three Divertimenti
March
Waltz
Burlesque
RAVEL Quartet in F
Allegro moderato
Assez vif
Très lent
Vif et agité
Intermission
DVORAK Quartet in G Major, Op. 106
Allegro moderato
Adagio ma non troppo
Molto vivace
Finale: Andante sostenuto – Allegro con fuoco
Artist Biographies:
Pavel Haas Quartet
Veronika Jaruskova, violin
Eva Karova, violin
Pavel Nikl, viola
Peter Jarusek, cello
Since winning the Paolo Borciani competition in Italy in Spring 2005, the Pavel Haas Quartet has performed at the world’s most prestigious concert halls, receiving great acclaim from audiences and critics alike.
In 2009/10 the Quartet will debut at the Lucerne Festival, the Schubertiade, the Frick Collection in New York, the BBC Proms and the Berlin Konzerthaus as well as make return visits to Vienna Konzerthaus, Barcelona Palau de la Música, Wigmore Hall and the Concertgebouw Amsterdam. They will also undertake major tours of the USA and Australia. In autumn 2009 the Quartet will release its third disc on the Supraphon label with recordings of Prokofiev’s String Quartets Nos.1 and 2.
Recent highlights for the Quartet include performances at Carnegie Hall, the Edinburgh International Festival, the Mariinsky Concert Hall in St. Petersburg and performances at the Louvre, Paris. The Quartet recently toured to Japan, recording a concert of Janáček and Haas for NHK television. In 2007, the Cologne Philharmonic nominated the Quartet as ECHO Rising Stars, resulting in a tour to major concert halls Worldwide.
The Quartet took part in the BBC New Generation Artists scheme from 2007–2009, participating in BBC studio recordings and high profile UK engagements. Their recording of Beethoven string quartets was the cover CD for the 2009 BBC Music Magazine’s Awards issue.
The Pavel Haas Quartet has released two discs on the Supraphon label. The first recording of Janáček Quartet No.2 ‘Intimate Letters’ and Haas Quartet No.2 ‘From the Monkey Mountains’ was voted one of the CDs of 2006 by The Daily Telegraph, CD of the Week by BBC Radio 3 and Chamber Choice by BBC Music Magazine. The Quartet’s second disc was released in autumn 2007 and saw them complete their recordings of the string quartet works by Haas and Janacek, featuring Janacek’s Quartet No.1 ‘Kreutzer Sonata’ and Haas’ Quartets Nos.1 and 3. Gramophone commented “To describe a CD as musically important is to court a certain level ofcontroversy but I’ll stick my neck out and claim extreme importance for this particular release.”Based in Prague, the Quartet has studied with some of the masters of the quartet world including members of Quartetto Italiano, Quatuor Mosaiques and the Borodin and Amadeus Quartets. It worked particularly closely with Milan Skampa (Smetana Quartet) in Prague and Walter Levin (LaSalle Quartet) in Basel.
The Quartet takes its name from the Czech composer Pavel Haas (1899-1944) who was imprisoned at Theresienstadt in 1941 and tragically died at Auschwitz three years later. His legacy includes three wonderful string quartets. As well as Haas, the Quartet is passionately committed to the Czech repertoire while their performances of Beethoven, Schubert, Haydn, Mozart, Prokofiev, Shostakovich and Ravel have also received extraordinary acclaim.
Artist website:
http://www.artsmg.com/ChamberGroups/PavelHaasQuartet/index.html
Other links:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/classical/newgenerations/pavelhaas.shtml
http://www.supraphon.com/en/artists/?item=49
Press Quotes:
“In emotional terms, they seamlessly drifted between fervour and introspection – glorious quartet playing”--The Strad, June 2009
“That sense of total conviction owed much to this marvellous quartet. The leader Veronika Jaruskova plays with fiery energy and an intonation that never wavers; the cellist Peter Jarusek produces an immense tone with an appearance of almost nonchalant ease. And all four play with a wonderful sense of unanimity.”--The Telegraph, March 2009
“Named after the Czech composer who died at Auschwitz, [the Pavel Haas Quartet] are passionate and virtuosic, the vivacity of youth matched by musical maturity. Haas never heard his Third String Quartet performed, but he has rarely had more focused champions, his jazzy inflections and complexities attacked with brightness and sensitivity. To end, Janácek's brilliant labour of love, String Quartet No 2 (Intimate Letters), was etched with restless, turbulent passion.”--The Times, August 2008
"Take note: this is one of the most polished and musically exciting young string quartets in the world today."--Washington Post, April 2008
"...with full-blooded passion and finely nuanced playing, the young musicians conveyed the yearning of the opening Adagio [in Janacek's String Quartet No 1], the urgency of its bittersweet motif and the ironic joviality of the second-movement polka."--New York Times, April 2008
"To describe a CD as musically important is to court a certain level of controversy...but I'll stick my neck out and claim extreme importance for this particular release...This is a superb release that deserves not merely to bask in the reflected glory of its predecessor, but to share in it. The sound is first-rate."-- Rob Cowan, Editor's Choice, Gramophone, April 2008
"It's an outstanding disc from this young Czech ensemble, up there with the finest modern recordings and it's the CD Review disc of the week."--BBC Radio 3 CD Review, November 2007
“What impressed most was that the quartet’s instinctive ensemble was capable of embracing the subtlest shades of attack and release with complete unanimity.”--The Strad, October 2007