MARTINŮ QUARTET

A fascinating new CD (SU 4176–2) is coming from the Martinů Quartet, who have recorded all the quintets of the Russian composer, pianist and teacher Sergei Taneyev (1856–1915). Taneyev was a contemporary of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, who was both a great critic and a great admirer of his work. Whenever Tchaikovsky needed an objective opinion of one of his own compositions Taneyev was the only person he trusted absolutely.

At only 28 years old, Sergei Taneyev was named director of the Moscow Conservatoire, with Rachmaninov, Scriabin and Glière among his students. The detailed refinement of his scores shows his profound study of the works of Bach, Mozart and Beethoven. His scores also show the composer's pe­netrating intelligence, which is, nonetheless, wedded quite remarkably to a strong emotionality, both lyrical and dramatic. The Martinů Quartet has managed to capture this broad palette of subtle colouration in its new complete recording of Taneyev’s quintets. “To dive into Taneyev’s musical world while studying his quintets was simply fascinating,” adds Zbyněk Paďourek, viola player with the Martinů Quartet.

Taneyev’s works are known by very few people in the Czech Republic so the Martinů Quartet is able to share their voyage of discovery with all lovers of classical music. For this recording the Quartet invited three celebrated soloists: the cellist Jiří Barta, the pianist Olga Vinokur and the viola player Jitka Hosprová. She has said about the collaboration that: “The parts were demanding, but at the same time it was satisfying work. I think this will be a successful project and a worthwhile one because this is music that is good to listen to and that has an interesting, very Russian character. At the same time this recording demonstrates the composer’s un­deniable place as one of the most remarkable figures in European music.”

The Martinů Quartet is ranked among the leading representatives of the Czech string quartet tradition. The group, founded by students of the Prague Conservatoire in 1976, was formed under the leadership of two of the figureheads of the Czech string quartet world, Prof. Viktor Moučka from the Vlachov Quartet and Antonín Kohout of the Smetana Quartet. They gained additional experience from their masterclasses with members of the Amadeus Quartet, the Quarneri Quartet, the Julliard Quartet, the Tel Aviv Quartet and the Alban Berg Quartet.

Originally named the Havlák Quartet, their career started with a number of important successes, claiming 7 prizes in international competitions. Among the most important of these are awards from the Yehudi Menuhin competition in Portsmouth, the ARD International Music Competition in Munich, the Evian Competition and the Prague Spring Competition.

In 1985, the quartet took on the name of the composer Bohuslav Martinů and committed themselves to the work of promoting his chamber music. For NAXOS, the group made a complete recording of his seven string quartets, and in 2004 the second CD of this set won the quartet an award for the best recording of the year in the 20th century solo and chamber music category at the prestigious MIDEM tradeshow in Cannes. The group’s recording of Leoš Janáček’s string quartets was named CD of the month by the British music website MusicWeb International, and their recording of Sylvia Bodorová’s Terezín Ghetto Requiem was named CD of the month by MW Classical MusicWeb.

During their rich musical career the quartet has performed on prestigious stages in Europe, North America and Japan, and has worked with the BBC, Radio France, ARD and ORF. It also continues to work regularly with Czech Radio, and it was thanks to this latter collaboration that they made the remarkable recording of the three string quartets by František Škroup (published in 2012 by Radioservis music publishers). This year the quartet is preparing a recording of string quartets by Petr Eben and Josef Páleniček.

The quartet has worked for many years with one of the most successful contemporary Czech composers, Tomáš Svoboda, who has lived and worked in Portland in the USA for 50 years. Over the past 10 years it has recorded all 12 of his string quartets, and on this year’s tour of the USA it is dedicating two concerts in Portland to his work, as well as an hour-long “live” program for an American radio station.

During it's 2014/2015 season the group will perform in the Netherlands, Great Britain, France and Malta, as well as in the USA.