Prazák Quartet in Concert - Haydn, Martinů, Feld, Beethoven: Thirty Years after his International (2008)

Although all of the quartet's original members with the exception of violist Josef Kluson have moved on since its 1972 founding, the Prazák Quartet has maintained many of its original traditions. For starters, the Prazák Quartet has long distinguished itself as an ensemble almost obsessed with technical precision. From its earliest recordings to the present, intonation, articulation, balance, phrasing, and even the matching of vibrato have been among its trademarks. All of these technical proficiencies have never come at the expense of musical integrity. Quite the contrary, in fact; the performances are typically quite passionate and musically sating. Another tradition of the ensemble is diverse programming, frequently beginning and ending with works from the "standard" repertoire while performing more "modern" works in the middle. This album, celebrating the 30th anniversary of the quartet's win of the International Evian Prize, keeps with both of these traditions. It opens with Haydn's Op. 50/6 quartet, subtitled "The Frog," one of Haydn's most jovial but infrequently performed quartets. At the end of the program is Beethoven's ethereal, profound Op. 135 quartet, one of the last pieces he was to complete. Sandwiched between these two pillars is the rhythmically complex Third Quartet of Martinu and the intriguingly unique Saxophone Quintet of fellow Czech Jindrich Feld. Despite the extreme diversity of the program, the Prazák members offer listeners a commandingly unified, easy-to-follow performance. Whether in the light refinement of Haydn or the dense frenetic passagework of Martinu, Prazák seems quite comfortable, confident, and set to begin another 30 years of chamber music.