Search - Antonin Dvorak, Michal Kanka, Josef Kluson :: Dvorák: String Quartet No.12

Thermonuclear Dvorak

Fred Chaffee | Kamuela, HI USA | 10/03/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Prazak is reputed to be the best string quartet in the Czech Republic, and after listening to this performance of the "American" quartet, it's easy to see why. We've all heard this beloved warhorse 100 times either live or in recordings, but never *ever* have I heard a performance like this one. Pick your favorite quartet's performance of the "American." Emerson? Guarneri? Tokyo? Orion? Prazak's is in a completely different league. The conventional wisdom about Russian music is that only Russians can *really* play it the way it was meant to be played. Maybe the same is true of Czech music, though Dvorak's universal appeal would suggest otherwise. Nonetheless the Prazak's performance has a depth of soul like I've never heard before. From the opening announcement of the theme of the first movement on the viola, you know you're in for something completely different--earthy and crisp, it sets the tone for everything that follows. The slow movement is filled with a pathos that moves you to tears; the scherzo is sharp, witty and even a bit naughty; the finale is breathtaking in its joy, yet the middle chorale recalls some of the pathos of the lento, before launching into the exalting coda. No matter how many recordings you have of the "American" this one's a must. A stunner."