Neither the Škampa Quartet, who have established a firm position among the world’s finest chamber ensembles, nor the phenomenal musician Iva Bittová needs any introduction. Both names relate to several groundbreaking projects (including a singular conception of Janáček’s Moravian Folk Poetry in Songs, Supraphon SU37942). The genre-genre-bending Škampa Quartet invited Iva Bittová to participate as a composer in their new project. Yet the majority of the pieces have been written by Pavel Fischer, formerly the ensemble’s first violin, whose Moravian musical roots and years with the Škampa Quartet have resulted in remarkable accomplishments.
His compositions, inspired by Moravian, as well as Scottish, Balkan and Roma folklore, have earned the quartet enthusiastic responses on stages worldwide. Yet the “artificial form” hasn’t reduced the sheer emotion, joy, sorrow and nostalgia so purely contained in folk music an iota. The common denominator– the earthy and torrential energy of the musicians. Moravia – the unfettered energy of folk music as an inspiration for Pavel Fischer and Iva Bittová.
November 2012
“The young quartet...rarely stray from repertoire with its roots in Bohemian culture, which shows in their completely instinctive playing of this music...It is not to be underestimated how far the identity of the players can go towards making sense of the music itself.”
