Reviews

The Wihan Quartet have held their position of eminence among the most distinguished Czech chamber groups for nearly 40 years. This remarkable consistency, in part a result of minimal personnel changes, is also down to the Wihan’s ability to revitalise their interpretative approach. “… these performances of Dvořák and Smetana’s most famous quartets certainly offer something new.” Their performance of the first movement of Smetana’s autobiographical First Quartet is deeply satisfying, making the most of its drama without undermining its clarity of structure. The Polka second movement not only revels in Smetana’s celebration of dance, but in the cello interjections…

Bohemian Rhapsody Freddie Mercury was teamed up with Montserrat Caballe, and it worked! Why? Because both of those performers, one from the ‘pop’ genre and the other ‘high’ opera, hit the senses directly. A visceral sensation. The Wihan had flown from Bohemia into England for their concert at the Courtenay Centre. Very used to travelling the best concert halls of the globe, coming back to Newton Abbot must be something unusual for them; and it certainly was for the audience. They played Smetana’s Quartet No 2 in D minor, Dvorak’s Quartet No 10 in E flat and Janacek’s Quartet No…

…The Wihan Quartet opened with the String Quartet no. 2, composed in 1925, when Martinů was a young man living in Paris and absorbing new musical influences like jazz… “The opening piece was, in a word, brilliant. In a country where string quartets abound, this performance offered a reminder why the Wihan Quartet is considered among the very best. The group speaks with a single, finely calibrated voice characterized by virtuoso technical skills and exuberant yet disciplined expression.” Setting a torrid pace, the players handled the rush of colorful tonalities and changing cadences with aplomb, giving wings to a piece that…

Mozart himself made these chamber adaptations of the first three piano concertos he composed soon after settling in Vienna in 1781 as a freelance composer-pianist. In each of them, the combination of an orchestral ‘feel’ with string-quartet reality requires a kind of circle-squaring from its performers that can be difficult to bring off – and is specially memorable when it succeeds to the wonderful degree that it does here. “The Wihan Quartet’s collective sound has a rounded fullness and mellow, tawny-brown colouring which, besides being handsome in itself, also means that they never have to force any kind of would-be orchestral effect.” ……

…The Wihan Quartet seemed to enjoy the freedom of Wolf’s episodic structure, capturing the Serenade’s light-hearted, often ironic, spirit.  The opening was feathery and refined – lots of air between bow and string – yet there was an underlying ebullience and confidence, conveyed by the bright clarity of leader Leoš Čepický’s perky E string and lifted by the firm buoyancy of Michal Kaňka’s cello line.  The movement between the various repetitions, quasi-recitative episodes, and instrumental dialogues was smoothly negotiated, a lovely suppleness characterising the frequent changes of colour, harmony and ambience. “The textures were transparent allowing the detail to be heard…

“The Wihan Quartet has secured a reputation as one of the world’s finest chamber ensembles.” Notwithstanding two changes in personnel in recent years, they have maintained their high standing… …The Wihan Quartet’s reading of the first movement [of Smetana’s Second Quartet] is well-considered and plots a convincing course through Smetana’s multitude of tempo indications… “they bring extraordinary cohesion to the final movements. In Dvořák’s utterly different quartet the ensemble is at its best in the last three movements with relaxed and refined performances.” The first movement [of Dvořák’s String Quartet no. 10 in E flat, op. 51]…  is… superbly played.…

Picture this: one of the Peak District’s most beautiful valleys; a perfect, pale-blue evening in mid-summer; an ancient churchyard thronged with a relaxed crowd admiring the view, or wending their way slowly to and from the convenient hostelry. Add in that they’ve just listened to some of the most beautiful music in the world played by some of its most skilful interpreters, and you have the perfect way to spend an evening… …The Wihan have attracted many rave reviews, particularly for their recordings of Dvořak and Janáček, but here they began with Mozart – his “Dissonance” Quartet. From the stark,…

… Leoš Čepický sits ram-rod straight with an air of assurance and subtle wit, his tone incisively etched, and second fiddler Jan Schulmeister leans into and over his instrument, tactilely making it sing so warmly, the wonderful results of the pair’s musical conversations and duets proves that contrast can also mean complement and coherence. … Gestures were freely transferred, trills and dynamic contrasts were vibrant, the tone was full and sincere, and after well-shaped urgency in the development section [of the Allegro vivace assaix of Mozart’s ‘Hunt’ Quartet], a brilliant ebullience marked the recapitulation… the melodic and textural definition of the Adagio were refined:…

… Beethoven’s Cavatina is highly charged with emotion – Beethoven himself was reportedly moved to tears by its beauty and profundity – and the Wihan employed a wide, prominent vibrato, creating and intensity which sustained the extended phrases, but which was always tinged with tenderness. “As he rose up the D string, Leoš Čepický’s warm sound projected sweetly: the falling fifth of the theme sighed soothingly and was immediately echoed, as if in consolation, by the cello.  In the central section, the lower strings’ triplets injected fresh pulse and Čepický’s melody was more isolated against the drier accompaniment. In the closing moments,…

The Wihan Quartet is one of the most experienced and admired of chamber ensembles. The present recording offers three classics from the Czech repertoire and also furnishes evidence of the development of the ensemble with the recent appointment of a new viola player, Jakub Cepicky. “…The Wihan Quartet gives a deeply considered ensemble performance [of Dvorák’s String Quartet No. 13] . The sweetness of tone achieved in the Adagio is remarkable and the first movement has irresistible impetus… overall this is a very fine performance.” Janáček’s First String Quartet is also given a handsome reading with superbly poised handling of the rhythm…

“Right from the off in Dvořák’s late G major Quartet you can tell that the Wihan Quartet are taking an inflected route… the Wihan play sensitively and their fill-ups are especially imaginative.” Josef Suk’s Meditation on the Old Czech Chorale ‘St Wenceslas’ is a masterly example of contrapuntal quartet-writing, and in addition to infusing individual lines with expressive weight the Wihan manage to keep textures admirably clear.Janácek’s First Quartet is also well observed, especially near the beginning of the work where cello, first violin and second violin respectively tail two bars’ worth of Adagio with a fidgety Con moto, each time growing more animated (a…

“… On this occasion at King’s Place the Wihan performed quartets from the Classical and early Romantic eras, demonstrating the remarkable, unassuming empathy which exists between the four players…” We began with Mozart’s Quartet in G K.387, the first of the six quartets which the composer dedicated to Haydn in late 1785.  The opening of the Allegro vivace assai was rich and robust, perhaps surprisingly muscular and rhythmically vigorous, as the voices engaged in a fluid interchange of ideas that seemed to push the music onwards… there was a fresh blooming of tone with the return of the main theme and considerable urgency…

…This unassuming anthology is revelatory… a thoroughbred Prague-based string quartet playing 13 Beatles songs, in superb, sophisticated arrangements by the eclectic Czech composer Luboš Krtička… “That these players approach Krtička’s recastings with utter sincerity and conviction is a given” …there’s never any sense that they’re slumming it. The choice moments are too many to mention – the soft introduction to “Here Comes the Sun”, and the delectable, hushed coda in the opening of “Julia” are sublime. A lovely disc.

… A hushed section arrives for solo violin, high in its register, answered by the rest of the quartet before the music [of Elie Wiesel (A Portrait)] continues, full of emotion, so finely brought out by the Wihan Quartet… … “…[Kol Nidrei Memorial] opens high in the strings before a sad theme arrives with the Wihan Quartet extracting some fine, terse timbres…” This is a distinctive and finely constructed work that rises in drama and emotion with some rich, fine playing from the Quartet. “The Wihan Quartet brings all their terrific qualities of crisp ensemble, rich textures and sensitivity to…

“Everything about this recording suggests long acquaintance and a great deal of thought.” The great G major Quartet has a dramatic, operatic intensity to it, a sense of powerful narrative and intense colour. In the process, as each section and subsection displays its distinct character, the metronome is dispensed with: the pace of the first movement in particular varies continually, which takes some getting used to, as forward-pressing urgency gives way to gentler, pregnant musings. Vivid contrasts run throughout the work. The cello melody that opens the second movement has a plaintive, relaxed air, and the dramatic fire that follows…

Schubert remains one of the most elusive of pre-Romantic composers, not least in his mature string quartets. Emphasise the Classicist side of his nature and you risk underplaying the music’s expressive poignancy, but opt for a furrowed-brow, Beethovenian thrust and you lose the profound sense of vulnerability that lies at the core of his creative psyche. “By skillfully steering an interpretative middle course, the Wihan Quartet achieves the tantalising expressive ambivalence that is the nirvana of all Schubert interpretation.” In the undulating textures of the ‘Rosamunde’ Quartet we find intense sadness without self-pity, beauty without beautification, and a compelling dramatic…