Our 2009/2010 Season
November 22, 2009
Talich String Quartet
Jan Talich, Jr., violin (J.B.Vuillaume – 1845)
Petr Macecek, violin (Francesco Ruggieri – 1694)
Vladimir Bukac, viola (Lorenzo Guadagnini – 1740)
Petr Prause, cello (J Gagliano – 1795)
For several decades, the Talich Quartet has been recognized internationally as one of Europe’s finest chamber ensembles, and as the embodiment of the great Czech musical tradition. The Quartet was founded in 1964 by Jan Talich, during his studies at the Prague Conservatory, and named for his uncle Vaclac Talich, the renowned chief conductor of the Czech Philharmonic. Over the decade of the 1990s, there was a gradual and complete change in personnel, rejuvenating the Quartet while continuing the tradition of its predecessors through involvement in a wide spectrum of musical engagements and recording activites. Jan Talich Jr, the current first violinist, is the son of the Quartet’s founder.
The Talich Quartet is regularly invited to prestigious chamber music festivals, such as the Pablo Casals Festival in Prades, Prague Spring Music Festival, Europalia Festival, Printemps des Arts in Monte Carlo, Tibor Varga Festival of Music, and the International String Quartet Festival in Ottowa, and frequently visits such venues as New York’s Carnegie Hall, le Théatre des Champs-Elysées and Salle Gaveau in Paris, and London’s Wigmore Hall.
The Talich’s recordings of the complete string quartets by Felix Mendelssohn, released on the Calliope label between 2001 and 2004, have been widely praised. Other recording projects include, also for Calliope, Dvorak’s “American” quartet and viola quintet (2003), Smetana’s two string quartets (2003), and a live recording of Schubert’s “Death and the Maiden” Quartet and the Dvorak Quintet (2004). The Quartet’s Janácek recording was honored by Gramophone with a nomination for the best chamber recording in 2006 – the only recording by a string quartet to be so selected.
“Amply virtuosic, yet exquisitely balanced and always ready to subsume technical skill to musical expression.” – The New York Times
“So absorbing were their interpretations that each piece was a totally involving musical experience.” – The Cleveland Plain Dealer