String Quartets

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.