Pavel Haas Quartet

This Prague four-piece is one of the most amazing quartet discoveries of the last few years. Their name plucks Janácek's most talented student, the Czech composer Pavel Haas, from oblivion. His career came to a brutal end when he was deported to the concentration camp in Auschwitz. The Pavel Haas quartet's reputation is attributable to their passionate commitment to the Czech repertoire. Their recordings of Janácek and Haas, amongst others, are truly on target. Despite their youth, an uncanny depth and maturity can be heard in their interpretations. Qualities which come in useful in Shostakovich's Tenth String Quartet, which demands the utmost of their technical skills. They strongly draw upon their Czech expertise when playing the First String Quartet by Smetana, which he wrote during the last decade of his life. His body and mind continued to deteriorate, but it was in just this period that he wrote his best work.