Pavel Haas (1899-1944) – String Quartet No.2, opus 7,
‘From The Monkey Mountains’ (1925)
- Landschap. Andante, 2. Koets, Koetsier en Paard. Andante, 3. De Maan en Ik. Largo e misterioso, 4. Woeste nacht. Vivace e con fuoco
Performed by: Bennewitz Quartet
Pavel Haas (1899-1944) – String Quartet 3, opus 15 (1938)
- Allegro moderato, 2. Lento ma non troppo e poco rubato, 3. Thema con variazioni e fuga. Con moto
Performed by: Pavel Haas Quartet
With Pavel Haas, and previously Erwin Schulhoff and Hans Krasa, we come to a group of composers who were killed in the Second World War and whose music was struck from the records for a long time.
The subtitle of Haas’ Second String Quartet (1925) is “From the Monkey Mountains”, whereby “Monkey Mountains” was a local nickname for the Moravian highlands or the Vysocina region. The four parts describe scenes of a summer holiday in the Moravian hills: the idyllic landscape, a bumpy carriage ride, dreaming under the moonlight, and a wild summer night with dancing and drinking.
The Third String Quartet (1938) by Pavel Haas beautifully shows how, in the 1930s, a restrained lyricism prevailed over the unbridled exuberance of the ‘roaring twenties’.
