Friday, March 31, 2006
December 05 - August 06
DECEMBER 2005
There are many exciting events to report since our last NEWS update.
On 7 December in the Rudolfinum in Prague, we celebrated our 20th Anniversary with many friends and loyal fans in the audience. We were especially happy to have Milan Skampa and Antonin Kohout of the Smetana Quartet with us. Prof. Kohout delighted the audience with a wonderful speech on stage before the interval, in which he said he was not only surprised that we had lasted 20 years but also that he had too. He then toasted us with a glass of champagne.
This concert also saw the launch of op 130, the final CD recorded by us of Beethoven’s complete works.
All the Beethoven CDs are now on sale either singly or alternatively as a set at a most advantageous price. (see discography on this website)
A DVD should be available soon of the whole concert – Haydn op 76 no 3 ‘Emperor’,
Dvorak op 96 in F major ‘American’ and Schubert’s glorious Quintet in C major, with Jamie Walton, one of the finest cellists we know, joining us from London.
The review at the end of this blog will give you a taste of the evening:
10 - 17 December
This period saw us back again to the UK to teach at Pro Corda Musical Encounters, a course for young professionals. The standard of musicianship on this course never fails to astonish us – but we still make them work really hard
JANUARY 22nd
– On our way from a concert in Birmingham, we stopped over in Oxford for the day to coach and share a concert with Oxford University students at the Holywell Music Room. This exciting project was organised by the CAVATINA Chamber Music Trust (more later) to attract OU Students to a chamber music concert.
What a pleasure to see so many young people at one of our concerts! Half the audience consisted of students, many of whom had never before been to a CM concert. Many fans from far and wide made up the rest of the concert audience.
The following weekend we spent in Norfolk with the St. Petersburg Quartet in our final tour together of Octets, Sextets and Quintets. The Norfolk and Norwich Society is a Mecca for chamber music lovers and we love being there too.
On the Saturday morning we rushed down to Saffron Walden to give a surprise Birthday concert for Susan Smith. Gordon, her husband, had arranged for us to play one of the Purcell Quintets with her on the second viola. She did this without batting an eyelid even though she had no idea she was going to do this until five minutes before it happened.
Back in Prague, we recorded the last notes of our new CD of the two Smetana Quartets for Arco Diva. This CD will be ready in May and will be on sale at our concert at the Wigmore Hall on May 17th as well as on the web, where all our CDs can be purchased.
Our Wigmore Hall concert is supported by the ADR Group, professionals in dispute resolution so we’ll know where to go if we need them. This is the second time that ADR have sponsored one of our concerts and we are very happy to continue this relationship.
Please call the Wigmore Hall now (020 7935 2141) for tickets for this concert.
As a sequel to this concert, we are visiting two schools in NW London for the CAVATINA Chamber Music Trust on the 18 and 19 May to give lunch time concerts and reveal the intricacies of composing variation movements to the pupils – in this case the slow movement of Haydn’s Emperor quartet. We are expecting about 30 (or maybe more) of these GCSE and A level students to come to the Wigmore Hall.
In April (21-23) we are at the Castle Hotel in Taunton for Martin Randall Tours, but as this has been sold out since November, we suggest you come and hear us in Bratislava on August 10th on Martin’s Austro-Hungarian Cruise or in Buckingham in August (20/21) for Kirker Holidays.
We have played in many other wonderful venues in the UK and have met some delightful people who have hosted us, and others who have helped in many ways. Many thanks to you all.
If any one wishes to get in touch with us, please use the comment button to let us know how you enjoyed our concerts and/or CDs or just to have a chat.
For booking concerts, please contact Maureen Phillips, our General Manager.
20 YEARS OF THE WIHAN QUARTET
Prof. Ivan Straus first published in Czech in Hudebni Rozhledy, January 2006
What is better – to be a partner in a string quartet or in a marriage?
The answer is probably the same for both relationships: success does not come easy.
The comparison with a marriage is often fitting: furious arguments about minor differences, attacks of claustrophobia due to constantly working and travelling together; variable moods, sometimes good, sometimes bad and on top of all this, possible financial problems; and, at the end of the day, always the basic question – will the relationship work or not?
Twenty years of marriage is a long time today when one considers the temporary nature of many celebrity relationships. Perhaps each complete year together should be celebrated! Twenty years of being part of the Wihan Quartet - from the time of their victory at the Prague Spring Competition - is indeed something very special and certainly worth celebrating. Today, the Wihan Quartet is the youngest of the internationally famous Czech Quartets. Their younger followers – Bennewitz, Haas and Zemlinsky (formerly Penguin) Quartets are starting to build their careers, as the Wihans did so many years ago, with much hard work.
In 1985 on entering the Prague Academy of Arts, Ales Kasprik was reponsible for forming the current Wihan Quartet by inviting his new fellow students, Leos Cepicky and Jiri Rehak, to form a quartet with him. They then only had to find a good second violin – a seemingly unattractive role, yet so important for the quality of any string quartet. They invited Jan Schulmeister, whose father was a renowned professor at the Kromeriz Conservatoire, to join them (A short time later Rehak‘s place was taken by Jiri Zigmund)
Antonín Kohout, the cellist of the Smetana Quartet and Professor of chamber music at HAMU (the Music faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague) immediately sensed the potential of and high level of talent within the Wihan Quartet and using the carrot and stick approach, he coached the Wihans to victory at the prestigious Prague Spring Competition. Another victory a few years later, at the London International String Quartet Competition, confirmed the Quartet’s standing as one of the leading quartets of the younger generation and launched their international career. They now have over one thousand concerts under their belt and dozens of recordings of a wide range of repertoire.
On 7th December 2005, there was much to celebrate at the Rudolfinum in Prague: the final CD release in the complete cycle of Beethoven Quartets; the support and long-term friendship of so many British fans (the Quartet always plays to a sold-out Wigmore Hall) the loyalty of American and Japanese audiences, not to mention their huge success in many other countries. But of even more importance than the marking of twenty years together, was the celebration of the miraculous survival and recovery of the first violinist from a life-threatening accident in May 2004
At this concert, the Wihan Quartet created a feast of music of the greatest composers, playing pieces that are close to their hearts. They opened the programme with the life-blood of every string quartet – Haydn. They performed the second movement of the Emperor Quartet as it was meant to be heard – a lyrical song without the slightest hint of the later uncomfortable associations with the Austrian and German anthems. If Haydn only knew how historical events would harm his lovely melody! Already, in this first piece of the evening, the Wihan showed clearly that they are not in a rush to get anywhere. They took time to savour, underline and enrich every important harmonic detail, to draw out a melodic phrase and allow time for every tiny nuance, even in the dance-like movements, and to enrich the audence´s soul with their warm vibrato. However, they also demonstrated that they are perfectly capable of baring their virtuosic teeth when needed. Their fast, yet perfectly clear and pronounced playing took one’s breath away . Actually, one can´t imagine today´s quartets surviving without having such virtuosic technical skills and most members of current quartets could easily perform as soloists as well. This is the tough competition that young Czech quartets have to face today. The Wihans proved during this concert that they – unlike some of the younger quartets - don´t need to play fast and loud all the time. They allowed themselves time to enjoy the delightful rests in the 4th movement of the Haydn to maximum effect – although on this occasion there was no need to capture the attention of a babbling audience – probably Haydn´s original intention when inserting these silences.
The Wihans played Dvorák´s American quartet for what must have been the one thousand and first time, but despite this, they performed this work with a freshness as if for the first time. Their charismatic viola player, Jirí Zigmund, used every occasion offered him by Dvorák to draw the attention of the whole audience to the viola (something in his manner reminded me strongly of the legendary personality of the famous flautist “Count“ Géza Novák of the Czech Philharmonic) but the moment his solo finished, he integrated back into the Quartet and served them as devotedly as they did him.
A description of all the musical pleasures and delights offered us by the Wihans on this special evening would make this article far too long. So let us now only mention that the concert ended with Franz Schubert´s swan song, the revered Quintet in C major. The Wihan were joined by their English friend, cellist Jamie Walton, who blended in perfectly with their sound and vibrato. The sublime second movement made time stand still for us all.
May the Wihan Quartet continue for many years to come. Long live the Wihan!
There are many exciting events to report since our last NEWS update.
On 7 December in the Rudolfinum in Prague, we celebrated our 20th Anniversary with many friends and loyal fans in the audience. We were especially happy to have Milan Skampa and Antonin Kohout of the Smetana Quartet with us. Prof. Kohout delighted the audience with a wonderful speech on stage before the interval, in which he said he was not only surprised that we had lasted 20 years but also that he had too. He then toasted us with a glass of champagne.
This concert also saw the launch of op 130, the final CD recorded by us of Beethoven’s complete works.
All the Beethoven CDs are now on sale either singly or alternatively as a set at a most advantageous price. (see discography on this website)
A DVD should be available soon of the whole concert – Haydn op 76 no 3 ‘Emperor’,
Dvorak op 96 in F major ‘American’ and Schubert’s glorious Quintet in C major, with Jamie Walton, one of the finest cellists we know, joining us from London.
The review at the end of this blog will give you a taste of the evening:
10 - 17 December
This period saw us back again to the UK to teach at Pro Corda Musical Encounters, a course for young professionals. The standard of musicianship on this course never fails to astonish us – but we still make them work really hard
JANUARY 22nd
– On our way from a concert in Birmingham, we stopped over in Oxford for the day to coach and share a concert with Oxford University students at the Holywell Music Room. This exciting project was organised by the CAVATINA Chamber Music Trust (more later) to attract OU Students to a chamber music concert.
What a pleasure to see so many young people at one of our concerts! Half the audience consisted of students, many of whom had never before been to a CM concert. Many fans from far and wide made up the rest of the concert audience.
The following weekend we spent in Norfolk with the St. Petersburg Quartet in our final tour together of Octets, Sextets and Quintets. The Norfolk and Norwich Society is a Mecca for chamber music lovers and we love being there too.
On the Saturday morning we rushed down to Saffron Walden to give a surprise Birthday concert for Susan Smith. Gordon, her husband, had arranged for us to play one of the Purcell Quintets with her on the second viola. She did this without batting an eyelid even though she had no idea she was going to do this until five minutes before it happened.
Back in Prague, we recorded the last notes of our new CD of the two Smetana Quartets for Arco Diva. This CD will be ready in May and will be on sale at our concert at the Wigmore Hall on May 17th as well as on the web, where all our CDs can be purchased.
Our Wigmore Hall concert is supported by the ADR Group, professionals in dispute resolution so we’ll know where to go if we need them. This is the second time that ADR have sponsored one of our concerts and we are very happy to continue this relationship.
Please call the Wigmore Hall now (020 7935 2141) for tickets for this concert.
As a sequel to this concert, we are visiting two schools in NW London for the CAVATINA Chamber Music Trust on the 18 and 19 May to give lunch time concerts and reveal the intricacies of composing variation movements to the pupils – in this case the slow movement of Haydn’s Emperor quartet. We are expecting about 30 (or maybe more) of these GCSE and A level students to come to the Wigmore Hall.
In April (21-23) we are at the Castle Hotel in Taunton for Martin Randall Tours, but as this has been sold out since November, we suggest you come and hear us in Bratislava on August 10th on Martin’s Austro-Hungarian Cruise or in Buckingham in August (20/21) for Kirker Holidays.
We have played in many other wonderful venues in the UK and have met some delightful people who have hosted us, and others who have helped in many ways. Many thanks to you all.
If any one wishes to get in touch with us, please use the comment button to let us know how you enjoyed our concerts and/or CDs or just to have a chat.
For booking concerts, please contact Maureen Phillips, our General Manager.
20 YEARS OF THE WIHAN QUARTET
Prof. Ivan Straus first published in Czech in Hudebni Rozhledy, January 2006
What is better – to be a partner in a string quartet or in a marriage?
The answer is probably the same for both relationships: success does not come easy.
The comparison with a marriage is often fitting: furious arguments about minor differences, attacks of claustrophobia due to constantly working and travelling together; variable moods, sometimes good, sometimes bad and on top of all this, possible financial problems; and, at the end of the day, always the basic question – will the relationship work or not?
Twenty years of marriage is a long time today when one considers the temporary nature of many celebrity relationships. Perhaps each complete year together should be celebrated! Twenty years of being part of the Wihan Quartet - from the time of their victory at the Prague Spring Competition - is indeed something very special and certainly worth celebrating. Today, the Wihan Quartet is the youngest of the internationally famous Czech Quartets. Their younger followers – Bennewitz, Haas and Zemlinsky (formerly Penguin) Quartets are starting to build their careers, as the Wihans did so many years ago, with much hard work.
In 1985 on entering the Prague Academy of Arts, Ales Kasprik was reponsible for forming the current Wihan Quartet by inviting his new fellow students, Leos Cepicky and Jiri Rehak, to form a quartet with him. They then only had to find a good second violin – a seemingly unattractive role, yet so important for the quality of any string quartet. They invited Jan Schulmeister, whose father was a renowned professor at the Kromeriz Conservatoire, to join them (A short time later Rehak‘s place was taken by Jiri Zigmund)
Antonín Kohout, the cellist of the Smetana Quartet and Professor of chamber music at HAMU (the Music faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague) immediately sensed the potential of and high level of talent within the Wihan Quartet and using the carrot and stick approach, he coached the Wihans to victory at the prestigious Prague Spring Competition. Another victory a few years later, at the London International String Quartet Competition, confirmed the Quartet’s standing as one of the leading quartets of the younger generation and launched their international career. They now have over one thousand concerts under their belt and dozens of recordings of a wide range of repertoire.
On 7th December 2005, there was much to celebrate at the Rudolfinum in Prague: the final CD release in the complete cycle of Beethoven Quartets; the support and long-term friendship of so many British fans (the Quartet always plays to a sold-out Wigmore Hall) the loyalty of American and Japanese audiences, not to mention their huge success in many other countries. But of even more importance than the marking of twenty years together, was the celebration of the miraculous survival and recovery of the first violinist from a life-threatening accident in May 2004
At this concert, the Wihan Quartet created a feast of music of the greatest composers, playing pieces that are close to their hearts. They opened the programme with the life-blood of every string quartet – Haydn. They performed the second movement of the Emperor Quartet as it was meant to be heard – a lyrical song without the slightest hint of the later uncomfortable associations with the Austrian and German anthems. If Haydn only knew how historical events would harm his lovely melody! Already, in this first piece of the evening, the Wihan showed clearly that they are not in a rush to get anywhere. They took time to savour, underline and enrich every important harmonic detail, to draw out a melodic phrase and allow time for every tiny nuance, even in the dance-like movements, and to enrich the audence´s soul with their warm vibrato. However, they also demonstrated that they are perfectly capable of baring their virtuosic teeth when needed. Their fast, yet perfectly clear and pronounced playing took one’s breath away . Actually, one can´t imagine today´s quartets surviving without having such virtuosic technical skills and most members of current quartets could easily perform as soloists as well. This is the tough competition that young Czech quartets have to face today. The Wihans proved during this concert that they – unlike some of the younger quartets - don´t need to play fast and loud all the time. They allowed themselves time to enjoy the delightful rests in the 4th movement of the Haydn to maximum effect – although on this occasion there was no need to capture the attention of a babbling audience – probably Haydn´s original intention when inserting these silences.
The Wihans played Dvorák´s American quartet for what must have been the one thousand and first time, but despite this, they performed this work with a freshness as if for the first time. Their charismatic viola player, Jirí Zigmund, used every occasion offered him by Dvorák to draw the attention of the whole audience to the viola (something in his manner reminded me strongly of the legendary personality of the famous flautist “Count“ Géza Novák of the Czech Philharmonic) but the moment his solo finished, he integrated back into the Quartet and served them as devotedly as they did him.
A description of all the musical pleasures and delights offered us by the Wihans on this special evening would make this article far too long. So let us now only mention that the concert ended with Franz Schubert´s swan song, the revered Quintet in C major. The Wihan were joined by their English friend, cellist Jamie Walton, who blended in perfectly with their sound and vibrato. The sublime second movement made time stand still for us all.
May the Wihan Quartet continue for many years to come. Long live the Wihan!
December 05 - August 06
DECEMBER 2005
There are many exciting events to report since our last NEWS update.
On 7 December in the Rudolfinum in Prague, we celebrated our 20th Anniversary with many friends and loyal fans in the audience. We were especially happy to have Milan Skampa and Antonin Kohout of the Smetana Quartet with us. Prof. Kohout delighted the audience with a wonderful speech on stage before the interval, in which he said he was not only surprised that we had lasted 20 years but also that he had too. He then toasted us with a glass of champagne.
This concert also saw the launch of op 130, the final CD recorded by us of Beethoven’s complete works.
All the Beethoven CDs are now on sale either singly or alternatively as a set at a most advantageous price. (see discography on this website)
A DVD should be available soon of the whole concert – Haydn op 76 no 3 ‘Emperor’,
Dvorak op 96 in F major ‘American’ and Schubert’s glorious Quintet in C major, with Jamie Walton, one of the finest cellists we know, joining us from London.
The review at the end of this blog will give you a taste of the evening:
10 - 17 December
This period saw us back again to the UK to teach at Pro Corda Musical Encounters, a course for young professionals. The standard of musicianship on this course never fails to astonish us – but we still make them work really hard
JANUARY 22nd
– On our way from a concert in Birmingham, we stopped over in Oxford for the day to coach and share a concert with Oxford University students at the Holywell Music Room. This exciting project was organised by the CAVATINA Chamber Music Trust (more later) to attract OU Students to a chamber music concert.
What a pleasure to see so many young people at one of our concerts! Half the audience consisted of students, many of whom had never before been to a CM concert. Many fans from far and wide made up the rest of the concert audience.
The following weekend we spent in Norfolk with the St. Petersburg Quartet in our final tour together of Octets, Sextets and Quintets. The Norfolk and Norwich Society is a Mecca for chamber music lovers and we love being there too.
On the Saturday morning we rushed down to Saffron Walden to give a surprise Birthday concert for Susan Smith. Gordon, her husband, had arranged for us to play one of the Purcell Quintets with her on the second viola. She did this without batting an eyelid even though she had no idea she was going to do this until five minutes before it happened.
Back in Prague, we recorded the last notes of our new CD of the two Smetana Quartets for Arco Diva. This CD will be ready in May and will be on sale at our concert at the Wigmore Hall on May 17th as well as on the web, where all our CDs can be purchased.
Our Wigmore Hall concert is supported by the ADR Group, professionals in dispute resolution so we’ll know where to go if we need them. This is the second time that ADR have sponsored one of our concerts and we are very happy to continue this relationship.
Please call the Wigmore Hall now (020 7935 2141) for tickets for this concert.
As a sequel to this concert, we are visiting two schools in NW London for the CAVATINA Chamber Music Trust on the 18 and 19 May to give lunch time concerts and reveal the intricacies of composing variation movements to the pupils – in this case the slow movement of Haydn’s Emperor quartet. We are expecting about 30 (or maybe more) of these GCSE and A level students to come to the Wigmore Hall.
In April (21-23) we are at the Castle Hotel in Taunton for Martin Randall Tours, but as this has been sold out since November, we suggest you come and hear us in Bratislava on August 10th on Martin’s Austro-Hungarian Cruise or in Buckingham in August (20/21) for Kirker Holidays.
We have played in many other wonderful venues in the UK and have met some delightful people who have hosted us, and others who have helped in many ways. Many thanks to you all.
If any one wishes to get in touch with us, please use the comment button to let us know how you enjoyed our concerts and/or CDs or just to have a chat.
For booking concerts, please contact Maureen Phillips, our General Manager.
20 YEARS OF THE WIHAN QUARTET
Prof. Ivan Straus first published in Czech in Hudebni Rozhledy, January 2006
What is better – to be a partner in a string quartet or in a marriage?
The answer is probably the same for both relationships: success does not come easy.
The comparison with a marriage is often fitting: furious arguments about minor differences, attacks of claustrophobia due to constantly working and travelling together; variable moods, sometimes good, sometimes bad and on top of all this, possible financial problems; and, at the end of the day, always the basic question – will the relationship work or not?
Twenty years of marriage is a long time today when one considers the temporary nature of many celebrity relationships. Perhaps each complete year together should be celebrated! Twenty years of being part of the Wihan Quartet - from the time of their victory at the Prague Spring Competition - is indeed something very special and certainly worth celebrating. Today, the Wihan Quartet is the youngest of the internationally famous Czech Quartets. Their younger followers – Bennewitz, Haas and Zemlinsky (formerly Penguin) Quartets are starting to build their careers, as the Wihans did so many years ago, with much hard work.
In 1985 on entering the Prague Academy of Arts, Ales Kasprik was reponsible for forming the current Wihan Quartet by inviting his new fellow students, Leos Cepicky and Jiri Rehak, to form a quartet with him. They then only had to find a good second violin – a seemingly unattractive role, yet so important for the quality of any string quartet. They invited Jan Schulmeister, whose father was a renowned professor at the Kromeriz Conservatoire, to join them (A short time later Rehak‘s place was taken by Jiri Zigmund)
Antonín Kohout, the cellist of the Smetana Quartet and Professor of chamber music at HAMU (the Music faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague) immediately sensed the potential of and high level of talent within the Wihan Quartet and using the carrot and stick approach, he coached the Wihans to victory at the prestigious Prague Spring Competition. Another victory a few years later, at the London International String Quartet Competition, confirmed the Quartet’s standing as one of the leading quartets of the younger generation and launched their international career. They now have over one thousand concerts under their belt and dozens of recordings of a wide range of repertoire.
On 7th December 2005, there was much to celebrate at the Rudolfinum in Prague: the final CD release in the complete cycle of Beethoven Quartets; the support and long-term friendship of so many British fans (the Quartet always plays to a sold-out Wigmore Hall) the loyalty of American and Japanese audiences, not to mention their huge success in many other countries. But of even more importance than the marking of twenty years together, was the celebration of the miraculous survival and recovery of the first violinist from a life-threatening accident in May 2004
At this concert, the Wihan Quartet created a feast of music of the greatest composers, playing pieces that are close to their hearts. They opened the programme with the life-blood of every string quartet – Haydn. They performed the second movement of the Emperor Quartet as it was meant to be heard – a lyrical song without the slightest hint of the later uncomfortable associations with the Austrian and German anthems. If Haydn only knew how historical events would harm his lovely melody! Already, in this first piece of the evening, the Wihan showed clearly that they are not in a rush to get anywhere. They took time to savour, underline and enrich every important harmonic detail, to draw out a melodic phrase and allow time for every tiny nuance, even in the dance-like movements, and to enrich the audence´s soul with their warm vibrato. However, they also demonstrated that they are perfectly capable of baring their virtuosic teeth when needed. Their fast, yet perfectly clear and pronounced playing took one’s breath away . Actually, one can´t imagine today´s quartets surviving without having such virtuosic technical skills and most members of current quartets could easily perform as soloists as well. This is the tough competition that young Czech quartets have to face today. The Wihans proved during this concert that they – unlike some of the younger quartets - don´t need to play fast and loud all the time. They allowed themselves time to enjoy the delightful rests in the 4th movement of the Haydn to maximum effect – although on this occasion there was no need to capture the attention of a babbling audience – probably Haydn´s original intention when inserting these silences.
The Wihans played Dvorák´s American quartet for what must have been the one thousand and first time, but despite this, they performed this work with a freshness as if for the first time. Their charismatic viola player, Jirí Zigmund, used every occasion offered him by Dvorák to draw the attention of the whole audience to the viola (something in his manner reminded me strongly of the legendary personality of the famous flautist “Count“ Géza Novák of the Czech Philharmonic) but the moment his solo finished, he integrated back into the Quartet and served them as devotedly as they did him.
A description of all the musical pleasures and delights offered us by the Wihans on this special evening would make this article far too long. So let us now only mention that the concert ended with Franz Schubert´s swan song, the revered Quintet in C major. The Wihan were joined by their English friend, cellist Jamie Walton, who blended in perfectly with their sound and vibrato. The sublime second movement made time stand still for us all.
May the Wihan Quartet continue for many years to come. Long live the Wihan!
There are many exciting events to report since our last NEWS update.
On 7 December in the Rudolfinum in Prague, we celebrated our 20th Anniversary with many friends and loyal fans in the audience. We were especially happy to have Milan Skampa and Antonin Kohout of the Smetana Quartet with us. Prof. Kohout delighted the audience with a wonderful speech on stage before the interval, in which he said he was not only surprised that we had lasted 20 years but also that he had too. He then toasted us with a glass of champagne.
This concert also saw the launch of op 130, the final CD recorded by us of Beethoven’s complete works.
All the Beethoven CDs are now on sale either singly or alternatively as a set at a most advantageous price. (see discography on this website)
A DVD should be available soon of the whole concert – Haydn op 76 no 3 ‘Emperor’,
Dvorak op 96 in F major ‘American’ and Schubert’s glorious Quintet in C major, with Jamie Walton, one of the finest cellists we know, joining us from London.
The review at the end of this blog will give you a taste of the evening:
10 - 17 December
This period saw us back again to the UK to teach at Pro Corda Musical Encounters, a course for young professionals. The standard of musicianship on this course never fails to astonish us – but we still make them work really hard
JANUARY 22nd
– On our way from a concert in Birmingham, we stopped over in Oxford for the day to coach and share a concert with Oxford University students at the Holywell Music Room. This exciting project was organised by the CAVATINA Chamber Music Trust (more later) to attract OU Students to a chamber music concert.
What a pleasure to see so many young people at one of our concerts! Half the audience consisted of students, many of whom had never before been to a CM concert. Many fans from far and wide made up the rest of the concert audience.
The following weekend we spent in Norfolk with the St. Petersburg Quartet in our final tour together of Octets, Sextets and Quintets. The Norfolk and Norwich Society is a Mecca for chamber music lovers and we love being there too.
On the Saturday morning we rushed down to Saffron Walden to give a surprise Birthday concert for Susan Smith. Gordon, her husband, had arranged for us to play one of the Purcell Quintets with her on the second viola. She did this without batting an eyelid even though she had no idea she was going to do this until five minutes before it happened.
Back in Prague, we recorded the last notes of our new CD of the two Smetana Quartets for Arco Diva. This CD will be ready in May and will be on sale at our concert at the Wigmore Hall on May 17th as well as on the web, where all our CDs can be purchased.
Our Wigmore Hall concert is supported by the ADR Group, professionals in dispute resolution so we’ll know where to go if we need them. This is the second time that ADR have sponsored one of our concerts and we are very happy to continue this relationship.
Please call the Wigmore Hall now (020 7935 2141) for tickets for this concert.
As a sequel to this concert, we are visiting two schools in NW London for the CAVATINA Chamber Music Trust on the 18 and 19 May to give lunch time concerts and reveal the intricacies of composing variation movements to the pupils – in this case the slow movement of Haydn’s Emperor quartet. We are expecting about 30 (or maybe more) of these GCSE and A level students to come to the Wigmore Hall.
In April (21-23) we are at the Castle Hotel in Taunton for Martin Randall Tours, but as this has been sold out since November, we suggest you come and hear us in Bratislava on August 10th on Martin’s Austro-Hungarian Cruise or in Buckingham in August (20/21) for Kirker Holidays.
We have played in many other wonderful venues in the UK and have met some delightful people who have hosted us, and others who have helped in many ways. Many thanks to you all.
If any one wishes to get in touch with us, please use the comment button to let us know how you enjoyed our concerts and/or CDs or just to have a chat.
For booking concerts, please contact Maureen Phillips, our General Manager.
20 YEARS OF THE WIHAN QUARTET
Prof. Ivan Straus first published in Czech in Hudebni Rozhledy, January 2006
What is better – to be a partner in a string quartet or in a marriage?
The answer is probably the same for both relationships: success does not come easy.
The comparison with a marriage is often fitting: furious arguments about minor differences, attacks of claustrophobia due to constantly working and travelling together; variable moods, sometimes good, sometimes bad and on top of all this, possible financial problems; and, at the end of the day, always the basic question – will the relationship work or not?
Twenty years of marriage is a long time today when one considers the temporary nature of many celebrity relationships. Perhaps each complete year together should be celebrated! Twenty years of being part of the Wihan Quartet - from the time of their victory at the Prague Spring Competition - is indeed something very special and certainly worth celebrating. Today, the Wihan Quartet is the youngest of the internationally famous Czech Quartets. Their younger followers – Bennewitz, Haas and Zemlinsky (formerly Penguin) Quartets are starting to build their careers, as the Wihans did so many years ago, with much hard work.
In 1985 on entering the Prague Academy of Arts, Ales Kasprik was reponsible for forming the current Wihan Quartet by inviting his new fellow students, Leos Cepicky and Jiri Rehak, to form a quartet with him. They then only had to find a good second violin – a seemingly unattractive role, yet so important for the quality of any string quartet. They invited Jan Schulmeister, whose father was a renowned professor at the Kromeriz Conservatoire, to join them (A short time later Rehak‘s place was taken by Jiri Zigmund)
Antonín Kohout, the cellist of the Smetana Quartet and Professor of chamber music at HAMU (the Music faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague) immediately sensed the potential of and high level of talent within the Wihan Quartet and using the carrot and stick approach, he coached the Wihans to victory at the prestigious Prague Spring Competition. Another victory a few years later, at the London International String Quartet Competition, confirmed the Quartet’s standing as one of the leading quartets of the younger generation and launched their international career. They now have over one thousand concerts under their belt and dozens of recordings of a wide range of repertoire.
On 7th December 2005, there was much to celebrate at the Rudolfinum in Prague: the final CD release in the complete cycle of Beethoven Quartets; the support and long-term friendship of so many British fans (the Quartet always plays to a sold-out Wigmore Hall) the loyalty of American and Japanese audiences, not to mention their huge success in many other countries. But of even more importance than the marking of twenty years together, was the celebration of the miraculous survival and recovery of the first violinist from a life-threatening accident in May 2004
At this concert, the Wihan Quartet created a feast of music of the greatest composers, playing pieces that are close to their hearts. They opened the programme with the life-blood of every string quartet – Haydn. They performed the second movement of the Emperor Quartet as it was meant to be heard – a lyrical song without the slightest hint of the later uncomfortable associations with the Austrian and German anthems. If Haydn only knew how historical events would harm his lovely melody! Already, in this first piece of the evening, the Wihan showed clearly that they are not in a rush to get anywhere. They took time to savour, underline and enrich every important harmonic detail, to draw out a melodic phrase and allow time for every tiny nuance, even in the dance-like movements, and to enrich the audence´s soul with their warm vibrato. However, they also demonstrated that they are perfectly capable of baring their virtuosic teeth when needed. Their fast, yet perfectly clear and pronounced playing took one’s breath away . Actually, one can´t imagine today´s quartets surviving without having such virtuosic technical skills and most members of current quartets could easily perform as soloists as well. This is the tough competition that young Czech quartets have to face today. The Wihans proved during this concert that they – unlike some of the younger quartets - don´t need to play fast and loud all the time. They allowed themselves time to enjoy the delightful rests in the 4th movement of the Haydn to maximum effect – although on this occasion there was no need to capture the attention of a babbling audience – probably Haydn´s original intention when inserting these silences.
The Wihans played Dvorák´s American quartet for what must have been the one thousand and first time, but despite this, they performed this work with a freshness as if for the first time. Their charismatic viola player, Jirí Zigmund, used every occasion offered him by Dvorák to draw the attention of the whole audience to the viola (something in his manner reminded me strongly of the legendary personality of the famous flautist “Count“ Géza Novák of the Czech Philharmonic) but the moment his solo finished, he integrated back into the Quartet and served them as devotedly as they did him.
A description of all the musical pleasures and delights offered us by the Wihans on this special evening would make this article far too long. So let us now only mention that the concert ended with Franz Schubert´s swan song, the revered Quintet in C major. The Wihan were joined by their English friend, cellist Jamie Walton, who blended in perfectly with their sound and vibrato. The sublime second movement made time stand still for us all.
May the Wihan Quartet continue for many years to come. Long live the Wihan!
