Album
Stamic Quartet
Novák: Complete String Quartets
Catalogue Number: SU 4367-2
Published: 4th July 2025
First release: SUPRAPHON 2025
Genre: Chamber Music
Format: 1 CD
Vítězslav Novák (1870-1949) – String Quartet No. 1 in G major, Op. 22 (1899). String Quartet No. 2 in D major, Op. 35 (1905). String Quartet No. 3 in G major, Op. 66 (1938)
Stamic Quartet: Jindřich Pazdera – 1st violin, Josef Kekula – 2nd violin, Jan Pěruška – viola, Petr Hejný – cello
For an impressive forty years, the Stamic Quartet (established in 1985) have been enjoying countless international successes both in concert performances and studio recordings. Just during the last fifteen years, the Supraphon label has released albums of the ensemble featuring the first recordings of the complete works for string quartet by J. B. Foerster (2010), Sofia Gubaidulina (2012), and Karel Kovařovic (2019). For the Stamic Quartet’s fortieth anniversary, they have recorded this complete set of Vítězslav Novák’s quartets, which also definitely completes the ensemble’s remarkable list of recordings.
Nearly forty years separate the First Quartet by Dvořák’s 29-year-old pupil, inspired by the countryside of Moravia and Slovakia and by folk music, from the Third Quartet, with its anxious premonitions of war. The works demonstrate a considerable stylistic shift in the composer’s musical language. From the foundations of the musical traditions of Romanticism, through inspiration from Moravian and Slovak folklore, Novák arrived at a personal style with integral components including the church modes, the sonic world of Impressionism, a polyphonic sensibility for musical structure (as is clear from the extensive fugue of the Second Quartet), and rhythmic richness. The experienced Stamic Quartet is the first ensemble to record Novák’s complete quartets, and it has done so with commitment that would be the envy of many young ensembles.
Novák’s complete quartets for the first time in the anointed hands of the Stamic Quartet
Stamic Quartet: Jindřich Pazdera – 1st violin, Josef Kekula – 2nd violin, Jan Pěruška – viola, Petr Hejný – cello
For an impressive forty years, the Stamic Quartet (established in 1985) have been enjoying countless international successes both in concert performances and studio recordings. Just during the last fifteen years, the Supraphon label has released albums of the ensemble featuring the first recordings of the complete works for string quartet by J. B. Foerster (2010), Sofia Gubaidulina (2012), and Karel Kovařovic (2019). For the Stamic Quartet’s fortieth anniversary, they have recorded this complete set of Vítězslav Novák’s quartets, which also definitely completes the ensemble’s remarkable list of recordings.
Nearly forty years separate the First Quartet by Dvořák’s 29-year-old pupil, inspired by the countryside of Moravia and Slovakia and by folk music, from the Third Quartet, with its anxious premonitions of war. The works demonstrate a considerable stylistic shift in the composer’s musical language. From the foundations of the musical traditions of Romanticism, through inspiration from Moravian and Slovak folklore, Novák arrived at a personal style with integral components including the church modes, the sonic world of Impressionism, a polyphonic sensibility for musical structure (as is clear from the extensive fugue of the Second Quartet), and rhythmic richness. The experienced Stamic Quartet is the first ensemble to record Novák’s complete quartets, and it has done so with commitment that would be the envy of many young ensembles.
Novák’s complete quartets for the first time in the anointed hands of the Stamic Quartet
Reviews
“So this really is the first project of its kind, and the whole cycle (which spans the period 1899 to 1938) offers a fascinating journey… As a first-time guide (if not entirely a pioneer) the Stamic Quartet do a perfectly serviceable job – with an unfussy way of phrasing Novák’s melodies and a firm grip on his more rhapsodic long-range structures.”
Gramophone, August 2025
“In the opening movement of the First Quartet, with its hints of Impressionist colouring, they supply just the right level of youthful enthusiasm. The slow introductory movement of the Second Quartet is Novak at his finest based on a modally coloured fugal theme it is quite unlike anything in Czech music in this period. The Stamic Quartet's sustained, constantly absorbing reading results in a gloriously radiant conclusion. They are equally impressive in the much darker Third Quartet, bringing a passionate intensity to the passacaglia finale. I could have done with a slightly more resonant recorded sound, but overall these are exemplary performances of some remarkable repertoire.”
BBC Music Magazine, September 2025
“As with their recordings of the quartets of Foerster and Kovařovic, the Stamic continues to make a strong case for its native chamber repertoire. The recording is good though a touch steely and the notes are instructive. The Third Quartet is one of Novák’s least-known and least-recorded works, which is reason enough to interest collectors, but the whole cycle is a admirable journey through the composer’s life, from light to darkness, but one modified by hope.”
MusicWeb International, August 2025
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Vítězslav Novák
String Quartet No. 1 in G major, Op. 22
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| 1. | I. Allegro moderato | 12:20 | |
| 2. | II. Scherzo. Allegro comodo | 05:37 | |
| 3. | III. Andante mesto - Allegro ben ritmico | 10:59 | |
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Vítězslav Novák
String Quartet No. 2 in D major, Op. 35
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| 4. | I. Fuga. Largo misterioso | 11:32 | |
| 5. | II. Fantasia. Allegro passionato, ma non troppo, presto – Quasi scherzo. Allegretto moderato, ben ritmico | 15:40 | |
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Vítězslav Novák
String Quartet No. 3 in G major, Op. 66
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| 6. | I. Allegro risoluto | 10:33 | |
| 7. | II. Lento doloroso | 14:40 | |