catalogue

The Smetana Quartet was one of the most popular string quartets world-wide during the second half of the 20th century. It was founded in 1945 (in the beginning Václav Neumann, later to become the chief conductor of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, was one of its members) and caught attention at home and abroad by its specific interpretations. Another special quality of the quartet was that they played by heart (the first time they played an entire concert without a score was in Vienna in 1952). In 1957, the quartet visited the USA and Australia for the first time. During thirty years since 1958, they regularly toured Japan, where in 1988 they gave their last performance. The recording takes us to the famous Santori Hall in Tokyo.

The documentary about the ensemble traces its foundation, the method of its work and some of its crucial performances of Smetana, Dvořák, Janáček, Beethoven, Sommer. It presents a small portrait of each of the players, the testimony of co-operating soloists such as J. Panenka, the later pedagogical work, and help to young Czech quartets. It summarises material (including amateur films made by the quartet members) from almost forty years of activity.

In music, it is an art not only to begin, have success and persist, but also to leave with honour. All this is the subject of the presented portrait.