These are the first live recordings ever made by the Czech Republic's Prazák Quartet, and they undeniably capture the excitement of the actual performance. Indeed, the performances are so exciting that at the end of Mozart's D major String Quintet one enthusiastic audience member leaps audibly to her feet and shouts "Bravo!" before the last chord has faded. Many listeners at home will no doubt agree with her: the Prazák Quartet's performances of Mozart's D major and G minor quintets are exciting, fast, strong, and tight performances with powerful attacks, relentless rhythms, and immense sonorities. Their interpretations inevitably emphasize the emotional content of the music over its formal structure, and because of this, the Prazák's Mozart sounds less gracefully elegant than intensely dramatic. For some listeners, this will be exactly the approach that Mozart's music needs to rescue it from generations of balanced and measured interpretations. For other listeners, this approach might seem to slight the very qualities that make Mozart Mozart. But in these days of evermore homogenized performances, few listeners will remain indifferent to the Prazák's interpretations and that is enough all by itself to merit listening to this disc. Praga's live sound is very bright, very close, and very, very loud.
© TiVo