Haydn: String Quartets op.77, 83
Pražák Quartet (Praga Digitals)
(scroll down for English review)
布拉扎克四重奏是個久違的名字，快要迎來創立50周年，現時的人馬早不是當年的成員，最近一次成員變動是在2015年。再生的不只是他們，連他們多年合作的品牌Praga也是，原來舊老闆在2018年逝世，接手者就以布拉扎克四重奏的新錄音重啟品牌。
海頓最後三首弦樂四重奏，其實只是兩首半，寫於1799年，當時貝多芬在寫他的六首作品18四重奏，挑戰海頓確立的弦樂四重奏格式。海頓這批作品，雖無前瞻性，但也沒有絲毫老態，其實沒有前瞻性正是我最為欣賞之處，因為格式千錘百鍊，沒有任何遲疑或懸念。
現在的弦樂四重奏，較少密集地演奏海頓，但願意這樣做的，往往鑽空子去找尋新的奏法、新的聲音。布拉扎克四重奏這個演奏，沒有甚麼驚天動地新發現，但也像海頓作品本身千錘百鍊，卻又不是練到全無人味，令人感到剛剛好，毋須再索求更多了。
Pražák Quartet is to celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2022, its roster has undergone changes, the most recent one in 2015. Praga, the label they’re most associated to, halted operations when their owner passed away in 2018. The new owner restarted it with a new recording of the Pražáks.
The last three, or two-and-a-half, Haydn quartets were written around 1799, when Beethoven was writing his op.18 quartets in a bid to challenge this Haydn genre. These Haydn quartets have nothing “final” or “forward-looking” in them, but they’re anything but old or tired. It’s not forward looking precisely because of their stylistic perfection.
Haydn is overlooked by the string quartets of our times, and those ensembles who do tackle Haydn intensively, tended to hype him up with quirky sounds or phrasings. Not so with the Pražáks, the playing is free from idiosyncrasies but you can’t find an ugly spot either. Just as the works the playing gave me the feeling that it can’t be bettered.