# Novak - String Quartet 3 op.66 (SQ review)



## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

Novák followed Dvorak's example of using folk music from his home country as inspiration in his quartets but he also travelled widely in bordering countries so they use melodies and ideas from other Slavic countries too. His 3rd quartet could, in some ways, be classed as a 'war' work as it preempts the imminent outbreak of the 2nd World War which served as a large inspiration for this piece. Novak had made numerous attempts to begin this quartet in the previous 10 years but he was originally lacking ideas and what he had written he found totally unsatisfactory. He said in his memoirs that he found it incredibly difficult returning to writing string quartets after a 3 decade break but finally, in 1938, he began work on his 3rd quartet. It's a work that's in in two long movements and usually lasts between 25 and 30 minutes. The 1st shorter movement, Allegro risoluto, is a rondo based vaguely on Moravian and Slovakian themes. The central section is a jolly fugue but the music changes to a "dark dance on a thundering volcano" (Novak's descriptor not mine) later. Novak explained that this was how he described his reaction to the imminent fear of invasion of Czechoslovakia, from the Nazis.
The 2nd movement, Lento doloroso, is a melancholy, anguished passacaglia with a sense of resignation, which Novak explained was his feelings of fear over the future of his country but it also highlighted Novak's fears of growing old and showed a nostalgia for his youth, according to his colleagues. Its very much a work of its time and reflects, like many works of the later 30s, the nervousness of many of the nations of Europe at the huge rise of Nazi Germany under Hitler. 

There's only 2 recordings still available so this will be a quite short review. Lol. The *Novak Quartet'*s recording from June 1962 is OK. They play well enough and show enough spirit but the SWR archive recording is sonically very dated and boxy. Strings are a little wiry, textures are a tad hazy and intonation is not always secure. The whole performance I'd class as serviceable rather than particularly engaging and I'm not sure I hear enough pain in the 2nd movement {it should sound like anguished an doloroso to my ears, in this recording. It's all pleasant enough but if you want fillet steak, not budget mince, I suggest you seek out the *Vlach Quartet*'s much better vision. They play with their customary Czech swagger and attitude and yes, the 2nd movement is broader but you get the impression they are more engrossed and emotional here. The Vlach play the 1st movement with way more character, urgency and Czech bounce than the Novaks and shape the painful lento beautifully, conjuring up feelings of resignation and fear. The stereo, analogue sound is more immediate, heftier and clearer than the opposition and the acoustics of the Dvorak Hall feel just right. This Danton recording is still available on a few select Czech sites, secondhand or through YouTube (if you're desperate) and I highly recommend this excellent 1972 recording. If you like Novak's other 2 quartets then I'm sure you'll like this one too even if, like me, you don't feel it's as immediately engaging as the 2nd quartet, in particular. Still a quartet that's well worthy of your consideration.


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