LDV18

In 1964, Jan Talich founded the Quartet that bears his name. Four years later, the Prague Spring gave it wings that the Soviet tanks soon broke. But the ensuing dark years forged a style of resistance, anchoring the players in one of the most creative traditions the string quartet has ever known. In 1975, the stranglehold was relaxed somewhat; Paris discovered the four musicians, and was dumbfounded by the depth of their harmony and the reach of their melody. The first recording followed a year later. The subject was Antonín Dvořák, and the object the ‘American’ Quartet op.96. An interpretation that has become legendary . . . Since then, I have constantly heard the Talich on record and in concert in their successive formations. And a specific tone, a particular sonority have always held my attention, not to mention their poetry. First and foremost, that style of playing which I can only call amoroso , that subtle, tender lyricism, inwhich the sound is nevertheless concentrated, that lyrical gesturewhich sweeps one away. 20 ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK _STRING QUARTETS Nos10 & 11