18 SCHUBERT 1828:2 [PAVEL HAAS QUARTET]

Janáček: String Quartet No 1 (‘Kreutzer Sonata’)
Schubert: Quintet in C, D.956

Pavel Haas Quartet
Ivan Vokač, cello

Janáček and Schubert make a wonderful combination that we have experienced many times at a ENF – especially in the performances of the Pavel Haas Quartet. There is something about the sheer theatrical intensity of Janáček that contrast to beautifully with Schubert’s more spacious work. So here we have Janáček telling Tolstoy’s tale of passion, jealousy and murder in music of vivid, almost cinematic immediacy alongside Schubert’s immense, reflective masterpiece. The time-stopping pathos of the quintet’s famous slow movement is balanced by the sheer propulsive joy of the last two movements.