2024 has been the “Year of Czech Music” at the Czech Centre, London. Concerts and films have abounded to remind Londoners not only of the Czech Republic’s incredibly rich heritage but also of its continuing support for its emerging arts and music.

One Czech quartet which came to my attention this week was the Kukal Quartet. There was much buzz and excitement surrounding this relatively new Czech ensemble which distinguished itself at the Prague Spring International Music competition a few years ago and whose reputation has grown rapidly since.

I was to attend their UK debut at the Czech Centre, Notting Hill Gate. A word about the concert venue itself -it is a work of art -a little unprepossessing from the Bayswater Road side, but inside, a brutalist wonder! I marvelled at its fantastic undulating walls in the reception area, and at the spacious garden we passed in the basement, where the concert was to take place, with its immaculate lawn, sculpture and two carefully pruned trees!

It seemed a perfect setting for the quartet’s innovative musical offering for that evening.

The Kukal Quartet opened the proceedings with Erwin Schulhoff’s Five Pieces for String Quartet with its central theme of dance. A Viennese Waltz gone awry set the modernistic, playful tone! Particularly appealing was the rich and seductive Tango. The Tarantella, which had to be executed at breakneck speed by our artists, was played with great gusto – and most importantly – precision.

String Quartet No 4 ‘Shofarot’ followed. It is an extraordinary work by Sylvie Bodorova (b 1959), who has been inspired by the shofar, the name of a sacred Jewish instrument, a ram’s horn, played in synagogues on Jewish holidays. The transposition to strings worked beautifully – the music is hard to define but is imbued with lovely rich and dark tones. Bodorova is a living woman composer and this piece, has at my time of writing, just premiered at the Leamington Music Festival.

Post interval, we entered more familiar musical territory with composer, Bedrich Smetana’s (1824-1884) gorgeous String Quartet No 2 in D minor. The first movement was a musical expression of Smetana’s angst brought about by his impending deafness and tinnitus. The music swirled around before settling into calmer feelings, only to resurface with its earlier torpor. This is a magnificent work and the ensemble played it admirably. The String Quartet with its modernistic spikiness, sets it apart from other music of that era- Schoenberg frequently referenced the String Quartet No 2 and regarded it as a work ahead of its time.

The evening came to a beautiful lyrical conclusion with Cypresses by Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904).

Throughout the performance, the Kukal Quartet demonstrated an amazing entente, passion, and precision. They are all set to delight audiences on their European tour this summer.

KH

The Kukal Quartet BBC Radio 3 In Tune programme is here: In Tune – Live music and news from the world of classical – BBC Sounds You will need to sign in/log in beforehand