Graffe Quartet

International Quartet Series - Graffe Quartet

Št?pán Graffe (violin)
Lukáš Bedna?ik (violin)
Lukáš Cybulski (viola)
Michal Hre?o (cello)
Pavel Haas: String Quartet no. 2 ‘From the Monkey Mountains’
Pavel Haas: String Quartet no. 3

The Czechoslovak composer, Pavel Haas, synthesised in fascinating ways the idiosyncratic, folk-inspired compositional style of his mentor Leoš Janá?ek with the ideas underpinning the international avant-garde movements of the inter-war era.

Sadly, the composer’s life ended in Auschwitz and his surviving work tends to be regarded one-sidedly through the association with the Holocaust.

This concert represents the diversity of character within Haas’s work: while the early string quartet From the Monkey Mountains (1925) reflects the light-hearted atmosphere of the ‘roaring’ 1920s, the relatively late String Quartet no. 3 (1937-38) betrays growing anxiety, inspired by the impending threat of Nazism.

The meanings encoded in these works will be explored with commentary by Martin ?urda (studying for a PhD at Cardiff University). The concert is part of the Pavel Haas Study Day – the first UK conference focusing specifically on this composer.