Göteborgs Konserthus Pulse-raising Czech Evening

Bohuslav Martinu (1890-1959) String Quartet No. 3 Allegro Andante Vivo During the early 1920s, the Czech Bohuslav Martinu, like other composers in exile, had taken refuge in a Paris in artistic bloom. Surrounded by a melting pot of expression, he becomes part of a thriving music scene. This string quartet echoes the impressions through everything from details to overall lines. The first movement's poking, dissonant and, for its time, challenging string techniques are held together by Martinu's rhapsodic gestures and the underlying 20s jazz rhythms. The playfulness is striking, but so is the quartet's exploration of possibilities. In the second movement, the outcomes are toned down and we are greeted by a more ambiguous sound. In some parts there is a closeness to, the new for Europe, the scales of the blues, but rather it is the folk music of the home country that leads the melody. The exile would mark Martinu's composition in the future. In this string quartet, we sense it as a longing in the dance form of the third movement. The mix of styles and styles is consistent. Even if the flageolet melody (which is vaguely reminiscent of a future Shostakovich) stands out, it is in the rhythmic more than the melodic that the core of the movement (and the work) is to be found. In the rhythmic aspect, the music points away from tradition to a certain extent and gives a sample of what would become the post-war period rather than Martinu's signature for a long time to come. Esaias Järnegard

Vitezslava Kaprálová (1915-1940) String Quartet Op 8 Con brio Lento Allegro con variazioni Independent, intelligent, extremely talented, Vitezslava Kaprálová belongs to the group of geniuses who were given too short a time on earth, but who filled it with more music than other composers achieve in a lifetime. She was educated by the best teachers in the Czech Republic. The ambition drove her further to Paris where the composer Bohuslav Martinu took her under his wing. One will easily think of another musical genius, Lili Boulanger. Like her, Kaprálová had a mature musical language early on and wrote orchestral music, but unlike Boulanger, the illness came quickly. Before that, she lived an active life as a conductor, musician and composer. She also had no sister (like Lili Boulanger) who kept her memory and music alive. Therefore, it is only in recent years that this Czech musical treasure has been brought back to life. 50 works for large orchestra, choir, chamber music ensembles and not least romances for voice and piano. Kaprálová had just turned twenty when she began writing her string quartet, which is one of her most performed works. The first movement is upbeat and happy, while movement two starts with a lone singing cello before icy violins enter. Strong melodies are twisted around each other. In the third and last movement, her Slavic roots are heard. It's jaw-dropping music, if you're inclined that way. Katarina A Karlsson

Antonin Dvorák (1841-1904) String Quartet No. 11 in C major Op 61 Allegro Poco adagio e molto cantabile Scherzo. Allegro vivo Finale. Vivace On 5 November 1881, Dvorák wrote to his friend Alois Göbl that he was astonished to read in the newspaper that the Hellmesberger Quartet would perform his new quartet on 15 December, which he was far from finished. "What could I do but put aside my work on the opera (Dimitrij) and write the quartet." However, he somewhat exaggerated the drama; at the time of the letter, the first three movements were largely finished, and he had actually received an order for the work from Joseph Hellmesberger. In a letter to him on 1 October, he accepted the order, adding that our Lord had already whispered some melodies to him, and that he hoped to complete the piece within 5-6 weeks. But he had put the work aside for the benefit of Dimitrij. Presumably Dvorák felt pressured by the contemporary work on the opera and therefore uses themes from earlier works in the string quartet, such as the Violin Sonata op. 57 which he wrote in 1880 and the Polonaise for cello and piano from 1879. Keller suggests that the thematic borrowings from the Violin Sonata and the Cello Sonata may have been the very melodies our master had already whispered to him. Was Dvorák finished in time? Yes, but the intended concert hall suffered a fire and the premiere had to be postponed. It was Joseph Joachim who first performed the quartet in Berlin almost a full year later. Swedish Chamber Music Association; Yngve Bernhardsson (excerpt)

The Pavel Haas Quartet is established as one of the world's foremost chamber ensembles and has won five Gramophone Awards for its recordings. They perform in major venues such as Wigmore Hall, the Philharmonie and Konzerthaus in Berlin, the Musikverein in Vienna, the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg and the Concertgebouw and Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam. For its 20th anniversary in 2022, the quartet was invited to appear on the cover of The Strad magazine and was included in a BBC Music Magazine list of the 10 greatest string quartets of all time. In the 2023-2024 season, the quartet returns to Wigmore Hall for four concerts, to Rudolfinum Prague, Teatro La Fenice, Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, Gothenburg Concert Hall, National Concert Hall, Dublin, Muziekgebouw, Amsterdam and Philharmonie Luxembourg. The Pavel Haas Quartet is Artist-in-Residence at the Dvorák Festival and curates the chamber music concerts including programming of all of Dvorák's string quartets over three seasons. The quartet is based in Prague and studied with Milan Škampa, violinist in the Smetana Quartet. They take their name from the Czech composer Pavel Haas (1899–1944) who was imprisoned in Theresienstadt in 1941 and died in Auschwitz three years later. His legacy includes three wonderful string quartets. Musicians are Veronika Jarušková, violin, Marek Zwiebel, violin, Šimon Truszka, viola and Peter Jarušek, cello. The quartet visits Gothenburg Concert Hall for the first time.