Quartet ups exposure to Czech music

Even many diehard classical music fans haven’t heard of Pavel Haas. But after a young string quartet bearing his name takes the Cabell Hall Auditorium stage in the next Tuesday Evening Concert Series event, lots of listeners will be heading to YouTube to hear his work.
Based in the Czech Republic, the quartet performs numerous works by Haas, a Czech composer who was imprisoned at the Theresienstadt camp and later died at Auschwitz. Haas composed his most famous work, “Study for String Orchestra,” while at Theresienstadt and worked on several others, a few of which survived. His remaining body of work includes three remarkable string quartets that continue to inspire both listeners and performers.

The Pavel Haas Quartet has included its namesake’s second quartet, “From the Monkey Mountains,” on a critically praised CD, but the musicians don’t restrict themselves to playing only Haas’ works.
The ensemble is known for its vibrant and nuanced performances of compositions by other Czech composers, including Leos Janacek and Antonin Dvorak.
“Actually, we are lucky, because we always play the pieces we really like,” cellist Peter Jarusek said. “This [program] is a very nice combination. It’s from a different musical world.”
Jarusek and his colleagues — violinists Veronika Jaruskova and Eva Karova and violist Pavel Nikl — will perform Franz Joseph Haydn’s “Quartet in D minor, Op. 76, No. 2, ‘Quinten,’ ’’ Maurice Ravel’s “Quartet in F Major” and Dvorak’s “Quartet in G Major, Op. 106.”

“The Ravel, of course, is one of the most difficult pieces in the quartet repertoire,” he said.
Jarusek said that the quartet recently finished its latest CD, which is filled with the music of Sergei Prokofiev. Expect a release date early next year, most likely in February.
The musicians will head back to the recording studio in June, when they have two weeks without a concert planned and can concentrate on Dvorak’s famous “String Quartet Op. 96,” known as the “American.”
“He’s a genius. His music is so warm and melodic,” Jarusek said of Dvorak. “His music is filled with many characters.”
Staying on top of their schedule is the only way the four musicians can meet all their performance and recording goals.
“It’s the most important thing, maybe, in quartet life,” Jarusek said of planning. “Everything is a lot of planning. Sometimes it’s very difficult to plan the whole season. You can’t play six concerts in five days.
“It is not a run for 100 meters. It is a marathon. You have to plan ahead.”

There’s another advantage to planning ahead. The holidays will be here before we know it, and the quartet will be able to take a break for refreshment and celebration with family and friends.
“No instruments, no concerts,” Jarusek said cheerfully.
Looking ahead also helped the quartet reserve about a month early in the new year to rehearse and dive into new works for the upcoming season.
The concert is underwritten by Old Virginia Brick. The quartet’s CDs and DVDs will be sold in Cabell Hall.

Tickets are $28 orchestra, $24 loge and balcony and $12 for student seats and seats with obstructed views.
Parking is free in the Central Grounds Parking Garage. To get tickets or information, call 924-3376.
Learn more about the series at http://www.tecs.org.