“There is much to admire here from the excellent Jerusalem Quartet. In Smetana's First Quartet there is the fine opening viola melody...The slow movements of the Janacek quartets are also carefully and thoughtfully played.” --Gramophone, March 2014
“The Jerusalem Quartet has ample reserves of poison as well as poise – and it attacks this music with quicksilver responsiveness to its shifting emotional landscape … An imposing release.” --International Record Review, April 2014
“The Jerusalem Quartet has ample reserves of poison as well as poise – and it attacks this music with quicksilver responsiveness to its shifting emotional landscape … An imposing release.” --International Record Review, April 2014
One might see them as the father and the heir. On the one hand, Bedrich Smetana, whose oeuvre is regarded as having founded the Czech national school; on the other, Leoš Janácek, his spiritual son (with Dvorák acting as the link between the two), brought up in the same love of the national language and culture. While opera took up a central position in both men’s lives, chamber music, and the string quartet, in particular, gave their output the indispensable intimate coloration that allows us to read and listen to their innermost thoughts and feelings. The Jerusalem Quartet, former BBC New Generation Artist and winner of the first Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award, is a welcome guest in the world’s most prestigious concert halls and festivals. The quartet’s discography on harmonia mundi has earned many international prizes and they were the first artist[s] to win 3 BBC Music Magazine Awards.
