Prazak String Quartet / Haydn Op. 96 Minuetto Allegretto

Vaclav Remes, violin
Vlastimil Holek, violin
Josef Kluson, viola
Michal Kanka, cello

The Prazak Quartet—one of today´s leading international chamber music ensembles—was established in 1972 while its members were students at the Prague Conservatory. Since then, the quartet has gained attention for its place in the unique Czech quartet tradition, and its musical virtuosity.

The 1974 Czech Music Year saw the Prazak Quartet receive the first prize at the Prague Conservatory Chamber Music Competition. Within twelve months their international career had been launched with a performance at the 1975 Prague Spring Music Festival. In 1978 the quartet took the first prize at the Evian String Quartet Competition as well as a special prize awarded by Radio France for the best recording during the competition. Further prizes were awarded at various other Czech competitions.

For nearly 30 years, the Prazak Quartet has been at home on music stages worldwide. They are regular guests in the major European musical capitals—Prague, Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Milan, Madrid, London, Berlin, Munich, etc.—and have been invited to participate at numerous international festivals, where they have collaborated with such artists as Menahem Pressler, Jon Nakamatsu, Cynthia Phelps, Roberto Diaz, Josef Suk, and Sharon Kam.

In North America, the Prazak Quartet has performed in New York (Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, 92 nd St. Y), Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas, Houston, Washington, Philadelphia, Miami, St. Louis, New Orleans, Berkeley, Cleveland, Tucson, Denver, Buffalo, Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal.

Their 2006/07 tours will bring them to 23 North American cities, including New York (Carnegie Hall), Boston, Houston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Detroit, Kansas City, New Orleans, Salt Lake City, Tucson, Vancouver, and Montreal.

The Prazak Quartet records exclusively for Praga/Harmonia Mundi which, to date, has released 20 award-winning CDs. In addition to numerous radio recordings in France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the Czech Republic, the Prazak Quartet has also made recordings for Supraphon, Panton, Orfeo, Ottavo, Bonton, and Nuova Era.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Prazak
• String
• Quartet
• Haydn
• violin
• chamber
• music
• classical

[music880216]

I saw them in Montreal. The first violonist dropped his bow while playing! Even professionals make small mistakes! Excellent quartet

[irondawson]

Bravo

[GeniusHaydn]

I think you need to listen to Haydn's SQs as well as Dittersdorf, Vanhal, Vranicky, Pleyel, Boccherini and Rosetti. These are all contemporaries of Mozart, then you will find out who was the best in the classical period as far as a SQ composer. What are you, 21 yrs old or something??Do some homework kid.....

[pancakeman357]

Genius, you justify Haydn being the best because Mozart admired him so much, but if Mozart's opinion can judge who is the greatest, it means Mozart himself is greater.

[embcomposer]

Muy buena interpretación, robusta, con un buen fraseo, en plena conciencia del discurso musical. Bravo!

[GeniusHaydn]

PT-Its not the amount of SQ produced by the manner in which he wrote. H's SQs seem to capture a vast range of human emotions. In the classical period, there were many fine Quartetists and Quintetiests, Dittersdorf(12), Vanhal(70), Pleyel(57), and Boccherini(91) to name a few. I have collected their SQs/SQus and believe they made great contributions. More of Vanhal and Pleyel need to recorded, they are very good. But my favorite are H's I enjoy all of them, great monments in all Opuses.

[PTCello]

Absolutely correct. Mozart himself said that Haydn showed him how to write a quartet, and Mozart's best quartets are the 6 that he dedicated to Haydn. Haydn's best quartets are the best of the genre. I prefer the opus 20 and 33, but consider this: if you eliminated, at random, HALF of Haydn's quartets, he would Still be the greatest quartetist who ever lived.

[Mancius87]

Haydn doesn´t have op. 96. The last is op. 77.

[GeniusHaydn]

I believe this is S.Q. in D major, Op. 50, #6-III. Menuetto: Allegretto.

[GeniusHaydn]

Excellent.. More Haydn.. Haydn's S.Q.'s are the finest quartets of the classical period, maybe of all time. What a marvelous composer. Why do you think Mozart admired him so much...