Prazák Quartet

The Prazak Quartet isn’t just among the leading string quartets from Czechoslovakia, but among the longest-lived from any country. Although a lot of the initial membership is fully gone, all of the current staff has been around place since 1986, and two from the three substitutes have served because the early or middle-’70s. And in addition, the ensemble shows a choice for Czech repertory, concentrating especially on Dvorák, Smetana, Janácek, and Martinu. However the group in addition has exhibited an affinity for the string quartets of Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, Brahms, and additional composers in the Germanic sphere. The repertory reaches the twentieth hundred years aswell, encompassing Zemlinski, Schoenberg, Berg, Schulhoff, and many more. The ensemble offers made several recordings for a number of brands, pirmarily on Praga, but including Harmonia Mundi, Supraphon, Orfeo, and Nuovo Period. The Prazak Quartet was founded in 1972 by cellist Josef Prazák and violist Josef Kluson, the just current initial member. All the initial members had been Prague Conservatory college students. The make-up of the group transformed frequently in its early years: Vaclav Remes (1st violinist) became a member of the ensemble in 1973; Vlastimil Holek (second violinist) became another alternative, in 1976; and in 1986 cellist Michal Kanka changed Prazák. The quartet’s 1st competition victory emerged in 1974 when it had been awarded first award on the Prague Conservatory’s renowned Chamber Music Competition. The players captured another initial prize on the 1978 Evian String Quartet Competition. By that point they had currently established a popularity in the home and in elements of Europe among the most important Czech string quartets for the worldwide picture. The quartet’s regular ascent through the entire 1980s and ’90s owed very much to its active concert plan in European countries and america also to the important acclaim it frequently attained for recordings. Using the extremely praised 1996 Compact disc of Schubert quartets (Rosamunde and Loss of life as well as the Maiden), the Prazak Quartet started recording solely for Praga. Since that time the group provides produced over 20 recordings for your label, consistently sketching positive important notice. Among afterwards recordings may be the 2006 Compact disc of Brahms’ String Quartet No. 3 and Piano Quintet, Op. 34. Essential concerts add a March 2007 appearance at Carnegie Hall, where in fact the group performed a typically blended plan: string quartets by Haydn (Op. 76/5) and Dvorák (No. 14, Op. 105), and Five Parts for String Quartet by Schulhoff. Years of steady employees ended this year 2010, when Remes was compelled to retire because of issues with his still left hands. He was been successful by Pavel Hula, previously first violinist using the Kocian Quartet.