presents the

Veronika Jaruskova, violin

Maria Fuxová, violin

Pavel Nikl, viola

Peter Jarusek, violincello

In a letter of April 15, 1784, Haydn mentioned that he was working on a group of three quartets that were "very short" and "intended for Spain." Op. 42 is dated 1785, and it is thought that this work stems from a commission Haydn did not complete in full. Given this work’s lovely qualities, however, it is appealing to think that the two other quartets might someday be recovered in a forgotten corner of a Spanish archive.

This isolated D-minor work -- the sole constituent of Opus 42 – is somewhat mysterious, as quartets were usually published in sets during the eighteenth century. Moreover, Haydn failed to register it in the Entwurf-Katalog, which raises questions concerning its authenticity. The work, however, exists in a signed autograph copy and exhibits some gloriously Haydnesque traits. One may point to the haunting end to the first movement, the swaying chromatics of the minuet, and the rich lyricism of the Adagio. The final movement recalls the contrapuntal finales in the Op. 20 set, moreover, the closing introduces a clash of C-natural and C-sharp that is reminiscent of the opening minuet from Op. 20- No. 3.

In his autobiography, Sergei Prokofiev acknowledged that after receiving the commission for a string quartet from the Library of Congress in 1930, he began intense study of the quartets of Beethoven. At that time, Prokofiev was on a concert tour of the United States, Canada, and Cuba, partaking of his studies and jotting down sketches of the work-in-progress during long train rides. By then he had been absent from the Soviet Union for a decade, having left for his first U. S. tour in 1918, not very long after the Revolution. That first tour found audiences lukewarm to Prokofiev, the enfant terrible, but in the intervening years, his reputation as an interpreter of his own works had grown. The 1930 tour turned into a personal and artistic triumph.

Although composition of the Quartet No. 1 was begun in the U. S., the bulk was actually written in Paris. It was first performed by the Brosa Quartet at the Library of Congress’s Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Festival on April 25, 1931. The Budapest Roth Quartet premiered it in Moscow later that same year on October 9. No key designation was to be found on the first edition published the next year, but subsequently, Prokofiev himself would point out the rarity of quartets in the key of B minor. As it happened, B minor is half a tone below the range of both the viola and the cello. Prokofiev, skillful chess player that he was, delighted in working out the resulting technical puzzle.

In the context of Prokofiev’s output, the Quartet No. 1 is an unusually serious piece, though there are moments of his accustomed and celebrated wit. The polyphonic texture owes much to Beethoven. The melodic material exhibits more lyricism, and less angularity than we usually associate with Prokofiev. Also worth noting is the three-movement structure, and the slow finale.

The sonata-form "allegro" is spare, yet sweet, with an emphasis on development; it concludes abruptly. Marked "tranquillo," the fourteen bars of "Andante molto" serve multiple purposes as a contrasting second to the first movement; as a truncated version of the "missing" movement; and as both introduction to, and thematic germ for, the scherzo-like "Vivace" that follows.

Prokofiev considered the folk-flavored "Andante" finale to be among the best single movements he ever wrote: "I ended the quartet with a slow movement because the material happened to be the most significant in the whole piece." Aside from this original quartet version, Prokofiev orchestrated it (but did not publish it, as he felt it worked better as a quartet), and arranged it for piano as the fifth of his "Six Pieces, Op. 52." The lyrical theme sounds first in the viola as the music gradually unfolds toward its ambiguous final notes.

The A minor quartet, Op. 132, was the product of the difficult first months of 1825. Beethoven had begun sketching the piece by the end of the previous year, but before he could progress very far with it, he was stricken with a serious intestinal inflammation, a frequent bane of his later years. "I am not feeling well," he complained to Dr. Anton Braunhofer on April 18^th. "I hope that you will not refuse to come to my help, for I am in great pain." Braunhofer was alarmed by the composer’s condition and gave him strict advice. "No wine, no coffee, no spices of any kind…I’ll wager that if you take a drink of spirits, you’ll be lying weak and exhausted on your back in a few hours." The physician also recommended a recuperation in the country to allow for the plentiful imbibing of "fresh air" and "natural milk." Beethoven had recovered sufficiently by the first week of May to repair to the distant Viennese suburb of Baden, and remained there—with occasional visits to the city—until mid-October. It was at Baden that the A minor Quartet was largely written. Beethoven’s illness and recovery touch directly on the music of the Quartet, which takes as its centerpiece a magnificent Adagio titled "A Sacred Song of Thanks from a Convalescent, to the Divine, in the Lydian Mode." Though not specifically programmatic, the quartet, whose overall structure follows the minor-to-major, dark-to-light progression familiar from the Fifth and Ninth Symphonies, evidences what Joseph de Marliave called "the habitual state of mind of the composer, the fight against destiny, the triumph of joy over pain."

To support a slow movement of such magnitude as the above-mentioned Adagio requires surrounding music of considerable breadth and emotional weight, and Beethoven chose to precede it with a large sonata form and a fully developed scherzo and trio. The opening movement, craggy and sometimes even belligerently willful in its progress, is based on several terse ideas presented in the exposition: a slow-moving motive in melodic half-steps, a melancholy violin line with dotted rhythms, a playful little imitative episode that serves as the formal second theme, and a more lyrical strain given by the violins above a galloping triplet accompaniment. There is a brief development section, mostly based on the half-step motive and the melancholy melody, before the apparent recapitulation of the themes begins. Though the themes are presented in proper order and balance, they are not adjusted as to key, and another full recapitulation, suitably transposed, is required before the movement can end. The scherzo, in A Major, developed almost entirely from the violin motive heard in the fifth measure, is paired with a central trio whose flowing themes are often rhythmically displaced.

Beethoven followed the transcendent Heiliger Dankgesanag with one of his more glaring formal incongruities—a little march of four-square structure whose emotional blandness provides an almost shocking descent from the exalted realms of the Adagio. This movement lasts only a short time, however, and it is linked to the finale by an instrumental recitative, as Beethoven had done in the Ninth Symphony. The last movement, in fact, is based on a theme that he had originally intended for that symphony, but which here becomes the subject for a vast sonata-rondo that gains the hard-won, victorious luminosity of A major for its close.

Coming from the Czech Republic, the Pavel Haas Quartet takes its name from the Czech composer Pavel Haas (1899-1944) who was tragically deported from Czechoslovakia in 1941 and died at Auschwitz three years later. Haas was a pupil of Leos Janácek, and one of the finest musical talents of his time. The composer’s daughter gladly gave the quartet permission to use Pavel Haas as the ensemble’s name, and closely follows the career of this young foursome. Haas’s legacy includes three wonderful string quartets. While the quartet is passionately committed to the Czech repertoire, their performances of Haydn and Beethoven, as well as the more contemporary Prokofiev, have also received extraordinary acclaim.

The quartet was formed in 2002, but its current players date from 2004. These are: Veronika Jaruskova, violin; Maria Fuxová, violin; Pavel Nikl, viola; and Peter Jarusek, violincello. An interview with the performers brought forth some interesting information about the quartet.

What do you enjoy most about quartet playing? Veronika: The dialogue’s the most important for me. I’m not the type to make music on my own; I enjoy communicating with colleagues, with friends. Then you have an enormous repertoire to choose from. I also love the traveling involved. Peter: You mean you like discovering new things, because the hours spent on the train is no fun for anyone! But I’d like to add that what’s interesting about our work is that each of us is his own boss. We all have the power of veto, everyone has to say what he wants, and then you arrive at the best compromise. No one criticizes us from above; we bear that responsibility ourselves.

You used to be called the Haas Quartet. Why did you change your name in 2005? Veronika: Everyone thought we were a German quartet.

When you’re traveling, how do you avoid getting on each other’s nerves? Maria: Only amateurs get on each other’s nerves. Veronika: I think it’s important to be straight with each other. It’s better if someone says they’re annoyed for some reason, and they go off to their room to be alone for a while, than if they let things boil up inside them. Even the occasional "storm" clears the air and helps to cement our relationship with one another. Peter: Any of us can say: "I don’t like you" and go off to be on his own for a while. Veronika: Except that, I’ll tell them: "I don’t like you," and they say they don’t mind (laughs).

How difficult is it for a young quartet to break out onto the international scene? Pavel: It was a great boost for us to win the Borciani competition in Italy in 2005. Veronika: After we won this competition, we had meetings with agents from various countries. They told us: "This is your agent for Japan, this is your agent for Italy, that’s your agent for Germany", and so on. Everything was brilliantly organized, and it was all very professional. In the end the agents arranged more concerts for us than were stipulated as part of the competition prize.