LDV18

Czech?Why not? But that emotive approach, those broad gestures always made me think of the sound of the Viennese school of quartet playing. Without going back as far as the Barylli or Wiener Konzerthaus quartets, the warmth and radiance of the Talich remindedme those same qualities in theWeller Quartet. The gap grewwider as the years went by. A whole new generation of young Czech quartets adopted crowd- pleasing tactics: the Škampa, the Haas played in an abrupt, dry style, virtuosic and brittle. Radiance, grace, tenderness remained the prerogative of the Talich, even though they too have grown younger since Jan Talich Jr. took over the primarius chair. I suppose it must be an illusion. All these musicians studied outside the Czech Republic; their artistry was honed alongside the great Austro-German or American quartets. And yet here are the ‘new Talich’, captured on record with all that comprises the gilded mystery of their sonority, the fluidity of their discourse, the nimbleness of their notes, the profundity of their words. And even if we know that lineage and schools don’t account for everything, this ethereal and tender sound that has survived every fashion at last returns to Dvořák. A return, then? No, a beginning. And to enlighten us further, the Talich were good enough to answer a few questions . . . 21 TALICH QUARTET