15 Questions to The Pavel Haas Quartet

To the Pavel Haas Quartet, there is no distance between their repertoire and themselves. Of course, just like most classical artists, their first intent is to satisfy the intentions of the composer. But their choice of material depends completely on their personal preferences and backgrounds, the environment they grew up in and the factors which keep their four-piece family thriving. As a consequence, their debut disc featured Janácek and Haas - the former probably the most famous contemporary composer their homeland of the Czech Republic has ever produced and the latter the patron saint of their ensemble. But there are more links and connections: Pavel Haas was in fact a scholar of Janácek and scored his first String Quartet during his college years in Brno. This work of departure would later receive a tragic undertone, as Haas was deported to Auschwitz in World War II. All of these sentiments, close to the hearts of the Quartet despite their historical distance, played a vital role in turning their album into one of the major success stories of 2007. Not only would they receive one of the sought-after Gramophone Awards, the BBC furthermore included them in their lustrous list of New Generation Artists. If there's a lesson to be learned from this it must surely be: Staying true to yourself does pay off.

Hi! How are you? Where are you?
Hello,we are fine,we are at home in Prague

What’s on your schedule right now?
We are preparing new program for upcoming season.Our first concerts are in Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels and Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.


If you hadn’t chosen for music, what do you think you would do right now?
Me and Peter would play in Arsenal football team,Veronika would be fashion designer and Marie would like to be photographer...

What or who was your biggest influence as an artist?
Prof. Milan Škampa(Smetana Quartet).When Veronika decided to found our quartet ,she asked him for help on the beginning and he taught us what is the quartet dialog and life about.


What’s the hardest part about being a musician and what’s the best?
The hardest part about being a musician is to practise many hours every day. The bestpart is nice feeling after successful concert.


What’s your view on the classical music scene at present? Is there a crisis?
It depends on countries. For example in Czech republic isn´t the situation around classical music scene so favourable.

Some feel there is no need to record classical music any more, that it’s all been done before. What do you tell them?
Every person is very different and the musician as well. You can´t find two same recordings, that´s why it is not true all been recorded before.


What constitutes a good live performance in your opinion? What’s your approach to performing on stage?
The most important is to hand over our feeling through music to audience.

What does the word “interpretation” mean to you?
For us "interpretation" is the way, how the musicians understand the message of the composer.

True or false: It is the duty of an artist to put his personal emotions into the music he plays.
Intentions of composer are on the first place, your personal emotions just supports his intentions.

True or false: “Music is my first love”
It is true.

You are given the position of artistic director of a concert hall. What would be on your program for this season?
We will think about it, when we will be artistic directors. It isn´t the same all the time. It depend if do you have holidays or you are in the middle of the season...

Have you ever tried playing a different instrument? If yes, how good were you at it?
We all had to play obligatory piano at school, but it was nothing special...

Photo: www.marcoborggreve.com

Discography:
Janácek, Haas (Supraphon) 2007

Homepage:
Pavel Haas Quartet at Intermusica

 

 

By Tobias Fischer, published 2007-12-02

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