Janacek: Quartet #2 ("Intimate Letters")

Andante (“first impression”)
Adagio (“love song”) 5:49
Moderato (“sweetest longings”) 12:12
Allegro (“fear for her welfare”) 18:02

VERMEER QUARTET
Shmuel Ashkenasi, 1st violin
Pierre Menard, 2nd violin
Richard Young, viola
Marc Johnson, cello

September 1992
Sydney Opera House
Sydney, Australia

Leos Janáček wrote his 2nd string quartet in 1928, the year he died at the age of 74. This hyper-personal work probes the extremes of passion, obsession, vulnerability, desperation, and rapture. It’s called “Intimate Letters” because it is based on hundreds of letters he wrote to Kamila Stosslova, a woman almost 40 years younger whom he called “my dear beloved riddle of life.”
The Vermeer was to have recorded both Janáček quartets in 1993. And the sessions for the 2nd quartet had actually concluded. But because of the disappointing acoustics of the recording venue, the entire project was cancelled.
The performance offered here was from the Vermeer’s 1992 Australian tour. These were their final concerts with Pierre Menard.

Видео Janacek: Quartet #2 ("Intimate Letters") канала Vermeer Quartet