Pavel Haas Quartet

The Pavel Haas Quartet from Prague is one of Europe’s leading string quartets, with a special focus on Czech and Slovak music. This concert begins with the powerful and deeply personal Fifth String Quartet by Czech composer Bohuslav Martinů.

In the score, Martinů included several private comments – among them reflections on his close relationship with his student, the highly gifted composer Vítězslava Kaprálová, who was 25 years his junior. Kaprálová was on the verge of becoming one of Europe’s most significant compositional voices when she tragically passed away at the age of just 25. She had only recently turned 20 when she composed the String Quartet No. 1 heard here – music filled with both optimism and a sense of longing.

Toward the end of his career, Antonín Dvořák was appointed professor of composition in New York. In 1895, shortly before returning to Europe and his beloved Bohemia, he began work on what would become his fourteenth and final string quartet. Here, he left all traces of America behind – geographically as well as musically. In this magnificent work, the light shines through the finely chiselled melodies, and the final movement is not only the crowning moment of the quartet, but one of the great highlights of his chamber music output.