Erwin Schulhoff was barely ten when he was admitted to the Conservatoire in Prague on the recommendation of Dvorák. But he did not stay long: he preferred to travel to Paris and Cologne, where he studied under Debussy and Reger. In Vienna he became a friend of Webern and Berg. In this concert, the Jerusalem Quartet will have Schulhoff’s ‘Five Pieces for String Quartet’ on their music stands. These five miniatures are as colourful and adventurous as his life: Viennese waltzes trade places with tangos and Czech folk music, while Schulhoff’s lifelong love of jazz echoes in the background.
It’s a completely different wind that blows through Smetana’s First String Quartet. It’s subtitle, ‘From my life’, leaves little doubt of its autobiographical content, which ranges from early youthful loves to Smetana’s struggle with his sudden deafness. Mozart’s Fourteenth was the first of his Haydn quartets. It is apparent that the old master was delighted with these works from what he told Wolfgang’s father Leopold: “Upon my honour, your son is the greatest composer I know”.