Franz Schubert: String Quartet No.14 in D minor & String Quintet in C Major
“This album is scalding to the touch. [the Haas’s accounts] are irresistible not only for immaculate surfaces, but for effortless engagement of that grief-stricken quality beneath Schubert’s shows of gaiety and even his most serene assurances.”
The Sunday Times, September 2013
“If CDs had grooves I would already have worn out these marvellous recordings…The young Czechs have the perfect fusion of virtuosity and profundity.”
The Times, September 2013
“This is good. Very good. Acclaim and the Pavel Haas Quartet are familiar bedfellows – after all, they did win Gramophone’s Record of the Year for their Dvořák two years ago. But this is their first recording that really steps into a crowded marketplace. They represent the best qualities of the Czech tradition – warmth, sonorousness, individuality, intensity; but what’s striking here is their fearless risk-taking, their fervency and the absolute confidence with which they propel you through these two masterpieces.”
Gramophone, October 2013
“The Pavel Haas Quartet, with the superb extra cellist Danjulo Ishizaka, even succeed where most other ensembles fail, making the last movement of the String Quintet into something that seems a fitting conclusion to a work whose first three movements are unquestionably supreme…essential listening for anyone who loves Schubert.”
BBC Music Magazine, Christmas Issue 2013
“The perfect fusion of virtuosity and profundity from the young Czechs of the Pavel Haas Quartet in Schubert. Death and the Maiden is given the more melodramatic reading, but the subtly nuanced performance of the Quintet in C is sublime.”
The Times, December 2013
“For me, the performance here ticks all the right boxes. From the opening chords, you feel that these young players are taking you on a journey. Having a clear vision and understanding of the structure of the music, they explore its full emotional range. Warmth and expressive phrasing are a distinguishing hallmark… These young players are a force to be reckoned with.”
MusicWeb International, December 2013
“We’re treated here to performances of not only great refinement and polish, but also real emotional depth… A combination of subtle elasticity of tempo whilst never slowing too much gives this performance [of Death and the Maiden] great structural coherency from beginning to end.”
Presto Classical, December 2013