Kovařovic: Smyčcové kvarteto - CD

This CD contains the complete string quartets of Karel Kovařovic: String Quartet No. 1 in D major from 1879, String Quartet No. 2 in A minor, Op. 7, from 1887, and the unfinished String Quartet No. 3 in G major from 1894. The world-premiere recording is performed by the Stamic Quartet, with Jindřich Pazdera and Josef Kekula on violins, Jan Pěruška on viola and Petr Hejný on cello. Although Kovařovic is usually associated with his work as director of the opera at Prague’s National Theatre or as a conductor, his compositions also include operas, ballet and stage music, songs, choral works and chamber music. His string quartets have never previously been published, and this recording brings them to listeners for the first time. The composer dedicated the particularly notable Second Quartet to Antonín Dvořák; six years after its Prague premiere, it was successfully performed at Vienna’s Musikverein. The Third Quartet remained unfinished, apparently because of Kovařovic’s rapidly developing conducting career and new commitments at the National Theatre. The recording demonstrates that this small but remarkable body of work deserves far more attention than it has received over the past century.