Prazak Quartet

On the Prazak Quartet: “It was a kind of virtuosity that does not call attention to itself, but leaves a listener feeling secure that the music is in capable hands. … A hot-blooded, richly textured reading. …” The New York Times And certainly no less than that! Frederika, Annie, and I enjoyed a great evening of quartet music last night with the Prazak Quartet. They played Haydn's Quartet No. 5 op. 76, D-Dur, Smetana's Quartet Nr. 2 d-Moll (not "From My Life"), Erwin Schulhoff's Fünf Stücke für Streichquartett (a sort of post-impressionistic/jazz-like sound), and one of my absolute favorites, Janácek's Quartet Nr. 2, Intime Briefe. Their encores were a Rondo-Zingarese movement from a Haydn Quartet (can't remember which one) and the Finale from Dvorak's American Quartet (also an old favorite). We sat in the back row at first and then moved up to sit second row - I can't even tell you how amused we were! Their facial expressions, interactions with the audience, solos played openly to the audience, smiling, colorful body language, and incredibly musical interpretation was really inspiring. This quartet had a deep and rich sound - I mean, it helps that they play on gorgeous Italian instruments :) but all the same, I felt like even if I didn't agree with every interpretation, the music was played so securely and with such conviction that it didn't matter. There was no pretension, which I've unfortunately often heard with some big-named artists. For them, you could tell that playing in a quartet is an absolute love. They kept smiling at us, so Frederika and I became nervous and thought that they'd recognize us today in the master class, but that wasn't the case. We played for the first violinist & cellist this morning...for three hours! We figured that the class would be in German, but the two of them switched to English because I'm not sure how good their German is. Again, there was no pretense/student-teacher hierarchy - at one point, the first violinist loved how Ella and I were bowing a passage, and he actually noted it down to try in their next concert. I'm starting to really believe that the greatest musicians are also the most humble - sure, there are plenty of jerks who can play brilliantly. But with heart? I don't think that's possible if you yourself are heartless. I asked them about possible summer courses, and the violinist took down my contact info and said he'd get in touch with me about it all. For everyone in the U.S., they are starting a tour of the United States in late Feburary, check it out: http://www.prazakquartet.com/concerts and try to attend one if you can - you'll truly enjoy the music.