Karel Kovarovic is remembered, if at all, as the conductor of the Czech National Theater during and after Dvorįk's time. He also wrote operas, ballets, and, unsuspected until now, three string quartets, the last of which was left unfinished. On the evidence here, this was nothing short of a tragedy. These works, all composed in the late 1880s, were left unpublished in Kovarovic's own time, to say nothing of ours, but the Stamic Quartet, which has performed other revivals of neglected Central European repertory, scores here ...
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Karel Kovarovic is remembered, if at all, as the conductor of the Czech National Theater during and after Dvorįk's time. He also wrote operas, ballets, and, unsuspected until now, three string quartets, the last of which was left unfinished. On the evidence here, this was nothing short of a tragedy. These works, all composed in the late 1880s, were left unpublished in Kovarovic's own time, to say nothing of ours, but the Stamic Quartet, which has performed other revivals of neglected Central European repertory, scores here with these three works. Supraphon's background information stresses Kovarovic's links to Dvorįk and leads with the String Quartet No. 2, where Dvorįk's influence is most prevalent. It's doubtless a competent homage, warm in tone, but more remarkable still are the other two works. Sample the rhythmically tense opening movement of the String Quartet No. 1, which sets up instabilities that are resolved only at the end of the work. It's true that Dvorįk's later quartets have this...
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