The Wihan Quartet - Recordings

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Dvorak/Suk/Janacek String Quartets

Dvorak Quartet in G major, Op. 106
Suk   Meditation on the Old Czech Chorale 'St Wenceslas'
Janacek  Quartet No 1 'Kreutzer Sonata'
Nimbus Alliance NI 6322
 
'the Wihan Quartet give a very special performance of Dvorak's last and greatest quartet.....one of the most experienced and admired of chamber ensembles......The Wihan Quartet gives a deeply considered ensemble performance.  The sweetness of tone achieved in the Adagio is remarkable and the first movement has irresistible impetus.   ......this CD shows the Wihan to be in fine form.....'
BBC Music Magazine, May 2016
 
This is an immediately appealing disc: great Czech quartets …………… played by a great Czech quartet.   Dvořák’s quartet needs a big sound to work, which the Wihan Quartet provides, along with wonderful ensemble, sharp rhythms and forceful interpretations. The performance is large-scale, luxurious and full of high drama. It is not sentimental.     No one who finds this combination of Dvořák, Suk, and Janáček alluring is likely to be disappointed by these carefully crafted and powerful performances.   An excellent recording of great quartets.
MusicWeb International
 
‘…the Wihan play sensitively…..infusing individual lines with expressive weight…..teasingly playful, with icy sul ponticello ….. the opening of the fourth movement  [is] persuasively lyrical.’
Gramophone, May 2016

_Dvorak String Quartets

Quartet in D minor, Op. 34
Quartet in A flat, Op. 105
Nimbus Alliance NI 6115

MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL Recordings of the Year 2010
Performances of real character, both cultivated and passionate, with a wonderful feel for
Dvorak’s melodies, especially in the warmth of the slow movements. The contrast of works
is also fascinating, the late Quartet 14 more packed with tunes and varied in mood swings yet
always engagingly presented by the Wihan Quartet.
MusicWeb International

This is a magnificent performance, offering quartet playing of a very high order.....this
work is performed with such admirable commitment and understanding as to place
this version at the top of the recommended list. This is a superb interpretation.
[This disc] is strongly recommended to all lovers of chamber music.
International Record Review

The Wihan’s performance goes to the Quartet’s heart….this is an enormously impressive
reading that searches out real depth, especially in the slow movement.
BBC Music Magazine

Though they have played these two works for many years in the concert hall, the music still
sounds so fresh as it flows without any trace of affectation from the Wihan Quartet. Tempos
seem to set their own natural pace, everything shaped with such affection and with that deep
understanding seemingly restricted to the composer’s native musicians. Taken from ‘live’
performances they convey the subtle nuances of dynamics. Excellent engineering.
Yorkshire Post

The Wihans cogently display the seamless flow of expression with a fine sense
of shape and progression....... the seamless interchange of enjoyment and calm
enables the quieter passages to sing more persuasively. This Wihan Quartet live
recording is forward and vivid, the audience unobtrusive. It gave me a lot of pleasure
and I also liked the contrast of two Dvorák quartets from different periods. The earlier
is more direct, the later more skilful in its artistry without forgetting the strength of
melody and intensity of expression that make both works rewarding.
MusicWeb International

The Dvorák quartets represent a relatively crowded corner of the repertoire
when it comes to commercial recordings, but there are a few things about the
Wihan Quartet's continuing series that have the potential to set it apart. From this
performance, it is clear that they are heirs to a strong tradition of Czech string
playing. [I ] salute the Wihan's impeccable refinement.
MusicWeb International

_Dvorak String Quartets

Quartet Op96 in F 'American'
Quartet Op61 in C
Nimbus Alliance NI 6114

This is the finest recorded performance I have encountered to date [Op.61]
BBC Music Magazine

The Wihan are consummate instrumentalists in the great Czech tradition, as they show by
their richly expressive account of the long, elaborately wrought C major quartet
The Sunday Times

....no other version outshines the Wihan in either work
MusicWeb International

....a fresh and refreshing view while still clearly in the great Czech quartet tradition. The
C Major quartet is a good place to start, to experience some of the beauty, spirit and
emotional aspects of the music which the Quartet captures so well.
Dvorak Society Newsletter

....their playing has a delightful freshness and spontaneity as well as robustness and
muscularity. Their warmly lyrical interpretations of the slow movements of both quartets is
also most impressive
The Schubertian

Matchless Artistry '... the finest of bravura chamber performances.'
In the Dvorák quartets under review, however -- Opus 61 in C major and Opus 96 in F
major -- the Talich and Wihan players (Leos Cepický and Jan Schulmeister, violins, Jirí
Zigmund, viola and Ales Kasprík, cello) wipe the floor with other ensembles, though
several of their contemporaries are most impressive. Such high artistic demands are
met to the full and sound engineer Eric James with producer Jeremy Hayes have done the
Wihan Quartet proud.
An unqualified recommendation.
Music & Vision

_Paganini 24 Caprices arranged by William Zinn for String Quartet

24 Caprices
Nimbus Alliance NI 6113

a fascinating and enthralling disc, full of wonderfully virtuoso and musical playing......the
textures are so varied and the playing so magical that one can play the disc from start to finish
and then go back to the beginning again.
International Record Review

The sound recorded in the Domovina Studio in Prague, is rich and detailed, and when heard
upon my present system (Harbeth P3ESR Special Edition speakers, Rega Saturn CD player
and Exposure 2010S integrated amplifier) is not only a fabulous audiophile demo recording,
it is simply drop dead gorgeous.
Audiophile Audition

Here is something unusual ......warmly and dexterously delivered by the Wihan Quartet.
They are unbelievable displays of pyrotechnical wizardry but, to my ears, they have always
been horrible to listen to. Now, suddenly, with the warmth of a string quartet wrapped around
their fibrous muscles they sound more like music.
HeraldScotland

_Beethoven Early String Quartets

Quartet in F Op 18/1
Quartet in G Op 18/2
Quartet in D Op18/3
Quartet in C minor Op18/4
Quartet in A Op18/5
Quartet in Bb Op18/6
Nimbus Alliance NI 6105

the Wihan's playing commands the greatest respect...... it is surely difficult to imagine
a more faithful, musically honest and lucidly intelligent approach, entirely free from
individual mannerisms: ultimately so refreshing when compared to the views of some
more famous ensembles......there is a rare vitality and radiance which are so right
for this music... As these are live recordings this is the real thing by surely one of the
best quartets in the world today.
International Record Review

The tonal richness of the Wihan Quartet is immediately apparent from the very
opening of the first quartet. Dynamism balances the eloquence, though, especially
in the development section of the first movement, where one experiences more
than usually the spareness of Beethoven's textures. The Adagio affetuoso ed
appassionato, which follows, is, in the Wihan's hands, a magnificent utterance that
seeks to transcend the limitations of Beethoven's so-called 'First Period'.
MusicWeb International

This is the second release from the Wihan Quartet on Nimbus Alliance, recorded
live in the Convent of St. Agnes, Prague in 2007/8, following on from their acclaimed
release of The Late Quartets. Highly recommended.
New Classics.com

These sets complete the Wihan Quartet's outstanding live recordings of complete
Beethoven quartets, ....their incisive, often dangerous playing gives vitality to their
virtuosic interpretation.
The Observer

_Beethoven Middle String Quartets

Quartet in F Major Op59/1
Quartet in E minor Op59/2
Quartet in C Op59/3
Quartet in F Major Op14/1
Quartet in Eb Op74 (Harp)
Quartet in F minor Op 95 (Serioso)
Nimbus Alliance NI 6109

"When I reviewed the Wihan Quartet's recordings of
Beethoven's late quartets earlier this year, I declared myself impatient to
promised subsequent releases that would make up the whole set. The p
is again full of rich colours...What's most impressive, however, is the
intelligent shaping of each work, both in terms of large-scale form and int
This ensemble really listens to itself and thinks profoundly about this grea
The Sunday Times

This issue completes the Wihan’s latest set of the
Beethoven Quartets....this is magnificent quartet playing: I am not sure I can name a finer account o
in the past 50 or so years.
International Record Review

The Wihan Quartet’s live accounts of the Beethoven Quartets are ever stimulating
and searching, as this three-disc set underlines. The youth of the quartet surfaces
in enthusiasm and a questing, fresh approach that should not be undervalued. The
recording reminds me of the techniques used for the Quartetto Italiano’s Beethoven
cycle – harsh at times but fully revealing of all detail…..there is true beauty married
to total concentration.

The second “Razumovsky”, the E-Minor, is given a gritty, determined reading. The
first movement oozes energy, while the sublime second is one of the finest things I
have heard the Wihans do. The contained ecstasy, the concentration and the tonal
finesse are all present and add up to a reading that exudes a maturity far beyond the
quartet members’ years. The excellence of Leoš Cepický’s first violin is of particular
note: sweet-toned, and with superb articulation.
MusicWeb International

I admire their cultured sound, the blend, their tonal beauty, (especially the cello) and
the fresh look at the ensemble textures.
Fanfare, USA

_Beethoven Late String Quartets

Quartet in Eb Op 127
Quartet in F Op 135
Quartet in A minor Op132
Quartet in B Major Op130
Grosse Fugue Op133
Quartet in C# minor Op131
Nimbus Alliance NI 6100

These are richly rewarding readings of Beethoven’s late quartets..... The group
makes a meaty, full sound, and their vision of each work carries with it the insight
of long, deep mutual experience.... achingly intense and beautifully controlled.
We’re promised the middle and early quartets before the year is out. I can’t wait.
The Sunday Times

These are excellent: their fiery interpretations do full justice to Beethoven’s final
masterpieces.
The Independent

Interpretative insight, ensemble expertise and fine dynamic shading come together
most convincingly.
Gramophone

Delivered with great accuracy and tightness of ensemble....great delicacy and charm
yet also tremendous energy and unrelenting dynamism.....This is playing of the
highest order. Thoroughly recommended.
The Strad

The Wihan is an impressive group. These are technically highly assured
performances..the Wihans get to the heart of the matter..experiencing these works
live by a top quartet is one of the great musical experiences.
MusicWeb

Beautiful clarity....the Wihan’s capacity for lightness of touch well suits Op127...the
Presto (Op131) is played with splendid vigour.
International Record Review

Playing with passion and alacrity from the word go, the Quartet Wihan show that
they are model Beethoven players in every department.....the Wihan's superb sense
of ensemble recalls previous greats such as the Weller Quartet, the Amadeus and
the Alban Berg.....
Classical Net

The Czech group’s long association with the quartets takes them closer to the heart
of the music than most recorded performances. ..the complexity of the Grosse Fuge
is splendidly captured.
Yorkshire Post

The excellent Wihan Quartet bring fine musicianship and expressive energy to the
complex, humane and spiritual masterpieces.
New Classics

I have had pre-release copies of the Prague/Beethoven discs and can confidently
assert that they are fully competitive with all the studio recordings in the catalogue.
Musical Pointers

The lyrical intertwinings in the first movement of Op 127 seem more wonderful than
ever..... team and composer are at their finest from the outset..... full marks to these
players.
Music & Vision

_Beethoven String Quartets Live DVD

Quartet in F Op 18/1
Quartet in G Op 18/2
Quartet in Bb Op18/6
Quartet in F Major Op14/1
Quartet in F Major Op59/1
Quartet in Eb Op74 (Harp)
Quartet in B Major Op130
Grosse Fugue Op133
Quartet in C# minor Op131

PLUS a documentary about the Wihan filmed and edited by Alice Nellis
Nimbus Alliance NI 6107

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_Pfitzner/Schoenberg

Pfitzner Quartet No2 in C# minor Op36
Schoenberg Quartet No4 Op37
Arco Diva UP 0028-2-131

_Smetana - String Quartets

String Quartet No. 1 in E minor, "From My Life" String Quartet No. 2 in D minor
Arco Diva CD Number: UP 0086 -2131

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Hugo Wolf - String Quartets__

String Quartet in D minor (1878-1884)
Intermezzo (1886)
Italian Serenade (1887) 
Arco Diva CD Number: UP 0029 -2131

_Schumann - Dvořák Piano Quintets

Schumann: Piano Quintet in E flat major Op.44
with Martin Kasik (piano) Dvořák: Piano Quintet in A major Op.81    
Arco Diva CD Number: UP 0055 - 2131