GRAMOPHONE AWARDS 2015

On 27 August 2015, the British music monthly announced the winners of the Gramophone Awards 2015. The Pavel Haas Quartet’s Supraphon album featuring Smetana works has prevailed in the Chamber category. The Gramophone Awards ceremony will take place on 17 September 2015 at St John's, Smith Square, London. This year, the Pavel Haas Quartet will take over the accolade in person and will also perform within the gala event.

Britain’s Gra­mophone Awards, dubbed the “classical music Oscars”, have for 39 years been bestowed by Gramophone magazine critics. From among hundreds of recordings released between 1 June and 31 May, the jury shortlists the best six for each of the 12 categories.

The Pavel Haas Quartet, exclusively recording for Supraphon, have won this year’s Gramophone Award in the Chamber category for their album featuring Bedřich Smetana’s two string quartets. Noteworthy is the fact that they have won the category for two years in a row, triumphing in 2014 with a CD comprising Franz Schubert music.

“We were thrilled when we won our first Gramophone accolade. Since then, we have been awarded another three, including ‚Recording of the Year‘. We have been astonished by the positive response our albums have met with. We put into our recordings everything we know and feel, just as numerous other artists do, yet we don’t do so with a view to getting another award. None the less, when the fruit of our labours absolutely naturally earns feedback as prestigious as Gramophone Awards, it reassures us that we have been pursuing the right path,” says Pavel Nikl, Pavel Haas Quartet violist.

Supraphon’s di­rector, Iva Milerová, points out: “The Pavel Haas Quartet are a true treasure for Supraphon. And we at the label highly appreciate that we can be their partners, conducive to the ensemble’s reaching unique artistic horizons.”

The classical music executive producer at Supraphon, Matouš Vlčinský, adds: “The Pavel Haas Quartet members are truly exceptional in the best sense of the word. They are uncompromising with themselves, they wouldn’t dream of entering the studio or going on stage without having thoroughly explored and digested the music. When they are on stage, they emanate an energy as torrential as though it were their final concert. They above all want to play the music they love – to think it over, elaborate to the finest detail, to get to the very bottom of it. They don’t do it with the vision of receiving an award, but the award duly arrives as the logical consequence of their enthusiasm and concentrated effort. Their exceptionality rests precisely in the combination of that which they master and their being absolutely down to earth, devoid of the slightest pretension. Working with such people is an immense delight!”

In the autumn, the Pavel Haas are scheduled to tour the USA and Canada. Their diary also includes concerts in Istanbul, Amsterdam, Ghent, Brussels, Stockholm, as well as at the Berliner Philharmoniker Hall. For the complete summary of upcoming Pavel Haas Quartet concerts, visit: www.pavelhaasquartet.com/concerts/

The next Pavel Haas Quartet album, whose recording is scheduled for the first half of 2016, will be dedicated to Dmitry Shostakovich. Besides String Quartets Nos. 8 and 10, it will feature his piano quintet, for which they have invited the superlative Russian pianist Denis Kozhukhin. Supraphon plans to release the album next autumn.

Gramophone Awards 2015 winners could be found here: www.gramophone.co.uk/awards/2015