Seven years after they triumphed with Dvořák’s quartets op. 96 “American” and op. 106, the Pavel Haas Quartet are back to Dvořák. For the occasion of recording his quintets, they have invited two guests: the pianist Boris Giltburg, as well as one of the group’s founding members, violist Pavel Nikl.
Antonín Dvořák composed his Piano Quintet No. 2 while staying at his beloved summer house in the late summer of 1887. The renowned critic Eduard Hanslick responded to its performance in Vienna enthusiastically by writing “It is one of his most beautiful works. A genuine Dvořák.“
The String Quintet op. 97, albeit only six years younger, presents a completely different Dvořák. After the Symphony from the New World and the “American” quartet, the string quintet is the composer’s third work written in America.
Besides drawing inspiration from the music of the Native American tribe of the Iroquois which he heard in Spillville in the summer of 1893, he built the third movement around a theme that he had previously considered using in a proposal for a new American anthem.
“The Pavel Haas Quartet is at home in Dvořák’s music – to quote the Sunday Times, “In this repertoire, they are simply matchless today.“
Here are Violinist Janine Jansen, with Cellist Mischa Maisky and friends, performing the Piano Quintet number 2 by Dvorak:
