Vlach Quartet

The Vlach Quartet (Czech: Vlachovo kvarteto) is the name of two consecutive classical string quartet musical ensembles, based in Prague, both of which were founded by members of the Vlach family. The original Vlach Quartet was founded by Josef Vlach in 1949 and wound up in 1975. In 1982 the New Vlach Quartet (Czech: Nové Vlachovo kvarteto) was founded by his daughter Jana Vlachova, with guidance her father, and came to be known as the Vlach Quartet of Prague (Czech: Vlachovo kvarteto Praha), and is still active as a musical ensemble.[1]

Vlach Quartet

Josef Vlach (Ratměřice, 8 June 1923 - 17 October 1988) was a violinist, conductor and teacher in Prague. He shared the principal violin desk of the Czech Chamber Orchestra (as it existed under Václav Talich[2]), with Jiri Novak, leader of the Smetana Quartet.[3] In 1949 he founded the Vlach Quartet with members of the Orchestra. Over the next 25 years they produced interpretations of classical and Czech literature for string quartet, both in concerts and in recording, for which they had a contract with Supraphon Records. The original Vlach Quartet recordings include Beethoven op. 131, op. 18 nos. 1 & 6, op. 59 no. 1. In 1957 Josef Vlach also re-formed the Czech Chamber Orchestra.[1]

Personnel

The personnel of the original Vlach Quartet in the period 1949-1975 were:[4]

  • 1st violin - Josef Vlach
  • 2nd violin - Václav Snítil
  • Viola[5]
    • Soběslav Soukup (1948–1952)
    • Jaroslav Motlík (1952–1954)
    • Josef Koďousek (1954–1975)
    • Jiří Hanzl (from 1970)
  • Cello - Viktor Moučka

The New Vlach Quartet/Vlach Quartet Prague

The New Vlach Quartet was founded in 1982 by Jana Vlachová, Josef's daughter, who had played in a string quartet from childhood under her father's guidance and won first prize in the Concertino Praga international competition aged 14. She graduated from studies with M. Hlounová at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, chose to concentrate on chamber music, and formed a duo with the Swedish cellist Mikael Ericsson in 1977. He had studied in Copenhagen, attended master-classes by G. Fallot and Gregor Piatigorsky, and studied in Prague with Josef Chuchro. He also has a recording career as a soloist. Karel Stadtherr, violinist, had performed with the Suk Chamber Orchestra (in contact with Josef Vlach) and was Konzertmeister of the Prague Chamber Orchestra Without Conductor. Petr Verner studied solo viola at the Prague Academy under L. Malý, Milan Škampa and Jan Pěruška, and chamber music with Josef Vlach.[6]

They received guidance and mentoring from Josef Vlach, imparting an interpretative tradition from the school of Václav Talich, and underwent a course of training by the Melos Quartet of Stuttgart. They expanded the range of the repertoire of the earlier Quartet, both in international scope and in the time-frame represented. They won the prize for best interpretation of a contemporary Czech work at the Czech String Quartet Competition in Kroměříž in 1983.[1] Their performance and broadcasts focused both on the classics and on the Czech repertoire, including the works of Antonín Dvořák, Bedřich Smetana, Leoš Janáček, and Bohuslav Martinů. Beginning in 1995, they recorded all of Dvořák's string quartets for the Naxos label. Other recordings include works by Schubert, Haydn, John Fernström, and others, on the Naxos, Marco Polo, Bohemia Music and Panton labels.[7]

The Quartet has performed throughout Europe, including Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Greece, and Luxembourg, and many of their concerts have been broadcast, for instance by the Bayerischer Rundfunk, the Südwestrundfunk, Danmarks Radio and Radio France. Czech Television has broadcast documentaries on both the old and the new Vlach Quartets. They have also toured the United States, with an opening concert in New York City in July 2004. They had a Residency in 1997 in Gifu, Japan, and were broadcast by NHK, Japan's principal station. In 2000 they led courses in interpretation at the conservatory in Ingesund, Sweden. In 2004 the Vlach Quartet Prague was Quartet-in-Residence in Schengen, Luxembourg.

The Quartet's main collaborations are with Maria Kliegel (cello), Jenö Jandó and Ivan Klánský (pianists), Eduard Brunner and Dieter Klöcker (clarinet) and Maximilian Mangold (guitar).

The quartet has received a number of prizes, including: an award for the best string quartet among the European competition at the International String Quartet Competition in Portsmouth, England, in 1985; the prize of the Czech Chamber Music Association in 1991; and the prize of the Czech Music Fund for a CD containing string quartets by Bedřich Smetana ("From My Life") and Leoš Janáček ("Intimate Letters") in 1992. In October 2000, they also won a Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik for a cpo recording of Esquisses Hébraïques: Clarinet Quintets on Jewish Themes, with Dieter Klöcker.

Personnel
  • 1st violin - Jana Vlachová
  • 2nd violin
    • Ondřej Kukal (with New Vlach Quartet in recordings of Arriaga quartets 1-3)
    • Karel Stadtherr
  • Viola
    • Peter Verner (1985–2005)[8]
    • Georg Haag (2006–2009 or 2010)
    • Jiří Kabát (since 2010)[1]
  • Cello - Mikael Ericsson

Notes and references
  1. "Biography". Vlach Quartet Prague. Retrieved 5 April 2018.
  2. "Prague Heart of Europe website". Archived from the original on 2008-09-14. Retrieved 2008-11-11.
  3. Zdenek Bruderhans, Article on Jiří Tancibudek 1921-2004, Reeding Matter, June 2004, Vol 7 part 2, Archived 2011-02-19 at the Wayback Machine
  4. Source: HMV recording of Dvořák Quartet no. 6 and Janáček no. 2 (ALP 1622), 1958: Supraphon recordings of Dvořák op. 106 (SUA 10172), Josef Suk quartet no. 2 op. 31 (SUA 10818), 1967, and Beethoven op. 18 nos. 1 & 6 (1 11 1106), 1972.
  5. Riley, Maurice W. (1991), "The Czechoslovakia Viola School", The History of the Viola, Volume II, Ann Arbor, Michigan: Braun-Brumfield, p. 240
  7. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2017-03-30. Retrieved 2017-03-29.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. "Profile of Petr Verner". Archived from the original on 2011-07-18. Retrieved 2008-11-12.
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