Zdeněk Fibich - Piano Quartet & Quintet (Panocha Quartet)

Information

Composer: Zdeněk Fibich

• Quartet for Violin, Viola, Cello and Piano in E minor, Op. 11
• Quintet for Piano, Clarinet, French horn, Violin and Cello in D major, Op. 42

Panocha Quartet

    Jiří Panocha, violin

    Miroslav Sehnoutka, viola

    Jaroslav Kulhan, cello

Marián Lapšanský, piano

Ludmila Peterková, clarinet

Vladimíra Klánská, French horn

Date: 

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Review

Outside opera, Fibich is at his best as a writer of large-scale works in his chamber music. His three symphonies are full of good things, though they occasionally suffer from some rather hectoring rhetoric, particularly in the finales. The Quintet recorded here is undoubtedly his masterpiece in this area, but the early Piano Quartet, composed in 1874, the year his first opera was staged in Prague, is a remarkably accomplished work. Its modally inflected opening is particularly striking and while Mendelssohn might occasionally spring to mind in this first movement, it is as a whole highly individual. The variation slow movement and finale are more modest in scope, though again they contain numerous captivating details. The Piano Quintet, unusually scored for clarinet, horn, violin and cello, is a product of Fibich’s maturity. The Largo is the heart of the work, one of the most richly Romantic slow movements in the Czech chamber repertoire. These excellently recorded performances are near-ideal. The performers provide idiomatic, affectionate readings that fully convey the originality and lyrical assurance of these works. Indeed, so confident is their command of the scores that at no stage do they sound in the least like unfamiliar repertoire.

— Jan Smaczny

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Zdeněk Fibich (21 December 1850 – 15 October 1900) was a Czech composer. He studied under such prominent musicians as Ignaz Moscheles and Salomon Jadassohn in Leipzig and Mannheim, then settled in Prague from 1874. Influenced early by Weber, Mendelssohn, Schumann, and later by Wagner, Fibich composed many songs and operas in German, gaining acclaim from German critics but less so from Czechs. His later operas were mostly in Czech, but often based on non-Czech literary works. He integrated Bohemian folk elements into his chamber music and was a pioneer in composing Czech nationalist tone poems.

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The Panocha Quartet was formed in 1968 at the Prague Conservatory by Jiří Panocha, Jaroslav Hlůže, and Jaroslav Kulhan, later joined by Pavel Zejfart. Miroslav Sehnoutka replaced Hlůže in 1971. The group gained international recognition after winning the 1975 Prague International String Quartet Competition and the 1976 Bordeaux Gold Medal. They debuted in the U.S. in 1975 and later in Germany and Ireland. Their repertoire emphasizes Czech and Viennese classical music, including complete cycles by Dvořák and Martinů. They have performed with pianists like Rudolf Firkušný, Jan Panenka and András Schiff.

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