The combination of Janácek and Haas is an inspired one, particularly when the performances are as fine as these. The first disc in this series gave us both composers’ Second Quartets, and while Haas’ First and Third don’t have quite the same surface appeal as “From the Monkey Mountains”, with its percussion additions to the finale, they are both excellent works. The First dates from 1920 and shows a 21-year-old composer impressively in command of obvious gifts. Relentlessly contrapuntal and effectively structured, the piece rises to a radiant climax that seems to anticipate the lyrical style of Tippett in the mid-1950s, before ending quietly with the same music as at the start.
The Third Quartet (1938), Haas’ last major work (as a Jew he was imprisoned and killed by the Nazis in Auschwitz), has three movements and builds on the style familiar from the Second Quartet: tangy dissonance and folk-music inflections mingle without a trace of stylistic incongruity. The variation-finale, the longest movement overall, is particularly magnificent, full of inventive detail and captivating harmony. The music’s optimistic ending stands in stark contrast to the fate awaiting the composer just a few years later. Without doubt, Haas was a major talent, and these performances by the eponymous quartet could hardly be bettered.
This is doubly true of Janácek’s First Quartet, played with a combination of passion and finesse that’s often breathtaking. The creepy “sul ponticello” episodes in the second movement are not just atmospheric, but they have shape and melodic point. In the finale the quartet builds the movement in a seamless arch to an overwhelming climax before a perfectly timed ending. Often it seems as though this piece ends just a bit too abruptly, but the control of tempo and dynamics here combine to produce one of the most satisfying versions on disc of a work that has never lacked for powerful advocacy. This wonderfully played, intelligently planned, and beautifully recorded release belongs in every serious chamber music collection.
