ARTS AM) ENTERTAINMENT The Quartet From Prague

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31153, 1 September 1966, Page 6

ARTS AM) ENTERTAINMENT The Quartet From Prague

The sounds of a Beethoven string quartet could be heard from by the door of the house in Armagh street and it seemed barbaric to ring the doorbell for an interview with the Prague Quartet of the University of Canterbury. The bell stopped the music 1 and the first violin, Bretislav Novotny, answered the door. The interruption? That was all right as the quartet rehearsed from 9 a.m. to about 1 p.m. each day and welcomed a rest from their instruments. Introductions were made— Karel Pribyl, second violin, Jaroslav Karlovsky, viola, and Zdenek Konicek, cello—and then the quartet talked about its work. The quartet had given two concerts in Christchurch last year while touring New Zealand for the Chamber Music Federation. “We are on a nine-month tour in which we went one and a half times around the world,” explained Mr Konicek. “We played in South America, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Russia, the United States and Europe. Then we returned to Prague to make some recordings for Supraphon. “Then we had the opportunity to come to Christchurch as the quartet-in-residence at the University of Canterbury. It was for us a relaxation from travelling.” BUSY PROGRAMME It meant making music as well as relaxation. It took Mr Konicek some time to describe in detail the quartet’s activities—several concert series, including the complete Beethoven quartets, lunchhour concerts, concerts and solo appearances in other centres, performances with the Christchurch Civic Orch-

estra; in addition, each mem-; ber of the quartet gives tuition in his own instrument. [ “This invitation to stay in! one place meant a fine opportunity for us to study new works,” put in Mr Novotny. “When we are travelling we are always short of time.” “It is also very necessary for us to have a rest from travelling,” said Mr Konicek. “Next year we expect a long tour again—America, Japan. . . . Yes, around the world again.” “We are pleased to be living here for a while with our wives and families,” said Mr Novotny. “It is such a pleasant country. We have had some outings into the mountains and some very exciting fishing.” On a trip to French pass the quartet caught 200 fish in two days, including a little shark and an octopus, and on its return it passed a seal colony. “It was very exciting for us,” Mr Novotny added. BARTOK NEXT The conversation turned back to music. The quartet revealed that it was learning the Bartok quartets so that they could be played as a cycle. It was also improving its Beethoven quartets for the Christchurch concerts, which were the first in which the Prague Quartet had played them as a complete cycle, and also so that they could record some on their return to Prague. “We are improving them both in the technical sense and in the interpretation,” said Mr Novotny, “Take Op 59, No 3. We originally studied it about four years ago. Now we have ‘grown up.’ We have other opinions.”

Mr Novotny explained the difficulties arising from Beethoven’s limited notation. “Beethoven had only the idea of how it should sound. Our problem is how to realise it so that it will sound as he wanted it to. “There are many alternatives. We have to try them and see—does it sound better if we bow up or down, or if we play it faster or slower? “Beethoven wrote many complicated parts. You can so easily see his intention in the score, but it’s hard to make it understandable for the audience. “It should all be clear to the listener. He should be able to say, Here is the theme here, now there, and be able to distinguish an important melody from one that is not quite so important.” One quartet had a passage marked forte for all players. As the theme was played only by the ’cello and violins, the four played forte, but the violins a little less forte than the others. Mr Novotny showed his score of a quartet in rehearsal, with markings in every bar to indicate bowing and the instrument with the main voice. “In several years’ time we might play the quartets differently. The work of the artist is never finished. He is always striving to improve the technique and the expression,” said Mr Novotny. “As Casals said, the artist is never satisfied,” said Mr Pribyl. REPERTOIRE . Mr Novotny said the quartet tried to include contemporary as well as classical works in its repertoire.

“We have had many requests to play new works,” said Mr Konicek. “Composers all round the world give us quartets.” “I’ve got one over there from Australia,” Mr Novotny indicated, apparently surprising some of his colleagues. “We have to choose very carefully,” said Mr Konicek. It was mainly a question of time. The work would be read through and perhaps tried, before they would decide whether it was worth spending up to two months learning it. A rather bumblingly-put question was discussed in Czech before an answer was given. “Some of us have only been learning English for a short while,” Mr Novotny explained. “We had to learn English before coming to this job. But we don’t have much opportunity to converse in English even now that we are here. We talk to our friends, and with our students, but most of the time there are just the four of us, playing or practising, and so we speak Czech.” The conversation returned to the concerts the quartet was giving. “We appreciate very much the co-operation of Maurice Till with us in some concerts,” said Mr Konicek. “We appreciate his playing very much,” agreed Mr Novotny. Maurice Till will play with the quartet in its next concert, which will be given in the Civic Theatre on Saturday for the Christchurch Chamber Music Society. The programme will include Mozart’s Piano Quartet in G minor K 478, Dvorak’s Piano Quartet in E flat. Op. 87, and Schumann’s Piano Quintet in E flat. Op. 44.