Driving back and forth to the town dump with a load of garden waste, I unexpectedly caught on the radio — with an innocent ear — a concert performance of (most of) the first Rasumovsky quartet. It was stunningly good. I thought it sounded like a Czech — or at least middle European — quartet, and to be young too. And (having recently bought their Dvorak and Prokofiev CDs) I wondered if it was the Haas Quartet. Well, indeed it was. One of the very best performances I’ve ever heard. You can listen to it here for the next week. (But if you miss that chance, you’ll get an idea of how good they are from this film of them playing the last movement from the third Rasumovsky, also courtesy of the BBC.)
[Added later. You can also, for the next few days, listen to them playing the Schubert Quartettsatz and “Death and the Maiden”. More great stuff. Thanks, BBC!]
You can tell the age of the performers just by listening to them (on the radio nonetheless)?
Heavens, I don’t claim a particularly ‘good ear’, but the playing just sounded very fresh, very direct, exciting … youthful!