Fibich: String Quartets, Variations

With a little delay following the issue of a complete set of violin works, Supraphon is now coming with the sequel to that title in the "hommage ? Zdeněk Fibich" (1850 - 1900) series, presenting a new recording of the complete quartet output ofthis Czech neo-Romantic composer who has so far failed to get all the interest he would rightfully deserve. Although modest in terms of size, Fibich's chamber production, whose crucial part was created during the 1870s, conveys an eloquent message about the versatility of his talent, as well as about his strong affinity for Czech folk music: Fibich was the first Czech composer to use the polka - a Czech folk dance - in the Scherzo of his A major Quartet. The considerable creative challenge involved in this project was taken up here by the experienced Panocha Quartet, which was once again, after its account of Dvořák's early quartets, offered a golden opportunity to place its high artistic repute in the service of asserting music which may lie on the margins of the mainstream repertoire, yet whose values are thoroughly unmistakeable.