Mozart: Quintets/Prazak

Dan Davis

Artistic Quality:

Sound Quality:

This first “live” recording of the Prazák Quartet was made in February, 2000 to commemorate the ensemble’s 2000th concert. The Prazáks are joined by violist Hatto Beyerlé, best known for his dozen years as the violist of the Alban Berg Quartet. Together, they match the finest performances of these masterpieces on disc. Here is playing with intensity and power that does not exclude delicacy and genuine feeling.

In the great G minor quintet they balance an energetic Allegro first movement with its lyric elements, the sighing, upward-striving violin conveying just the right amount of pathos, the violent chords at the end of the movement mirroring those that open the second, which become hammer-blows of fate interrupting the sweetly singing melody. The Adagio opens with the muted strings in a hushed, prayerful stance, the soaring violin figure becoming more poignant against the rich lower-string accompaniment. Music and performance wrench the heart when the violin’s melody is released and diffused among the strings in phrasing of gentle, caressing warmth. The Finale can be tricky, the tragic Adagio leading to an outburst of joy that can sound false. Here, the players manage to make it ambiguous, optimism tempered by the realization that tragedy is inevitable. This is a performance to treasure, one of immense beauty and understanding.

The D major quintet gets an equally fine performance, the Prazák and Beyerlé pouring the vintage wine of emotion into the elegant glass of classic form. The tragic dimensions of the Adagio in particular are encompassed with superb string playing and thrilling exchanges among the instruments. It would be invidious to single out any of these five musicians, but the warmth and facility of first violinist Vaclav Remes and the big, rounded timbre of cellist Michal Kanka require special mention.

The booklet notes say the ensemble prefers the perfection of studio recordings but agreed to this release with no retakes despite some qualms about how they might do this or that phrase better. To these ears any misgivings are irrelevant here, nor need the engineers make excuses for the venue–the disc sounds as immediate and detailed as any studio recording and superior to some of the Prazák’s earlier Praga discs. That’s despite occasional extraneous sounds–a chair scraping, feet shuffling, a cough here or a sneeze there. Such distractions are few and don’t influence ratings that reflect the quality of the performances and engineering and the way both capture the spirit of the music. [2/24/2006]


Recording Details:

Reference Recording: Grumiaux (Philips)

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART - String Quintet in D major K. 593; String Quintet in G minor K. 516

  • Record Label: Praga - 350012
  • Medium: CD

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