Jubilee String Quartet follows critically acclaimed Haydn recording with album devoted to early and late Schubert

Rubicon Classics release (25 November 2022) couples composer’s String Quartet No.10 in E flat major D87 with his titanic String Quartet No.15 in G major D887

‘Brilliant and distinctive… fresh and new’ is how the Telegraph described the Jubilee String Quartet’s all-Haydn debut recording. Their second album for Rubicon Classics, set for release on Friday 25 November 2022, trains the spotlight on Schubert in the shape of the composer’s youthful String Quartet No.10 in E flat major D87 and his final work in the genre, the String Quartet No.15 in G major D887.

The cosmopolitan quartet, which comprises musicians from the Czech Republic, Canada, Spain and England, will mark the launch of their new disc with a performance of the G major quartet at London’s Conway Hall, Red Lion Square on Sunday 6 November. They have programmed Schubert’s late masterwork in company with the first of Haydn’s Op.77 string quartets, the slow movement of Schubert’s String Quartet No.14 ‘Death and the Maiden’ and the song on which it is based.

The Jubilee String Quartet prepared to make their new album with a run of Schubert performances, including concerts at the Fundación Juan March in Madrid and their Wigmore Hall debut earlier this year. Their interpretations emphasise the power of the composer’s music to articulate its acute drama through rhetoric and harmony alone, without the addition of artificial extraversion from its performers. “During our preparation we grew as a quartet,” recalls the group’s founder and first violinist, Tereza Privratska. “The G major quartet in particular pushed our boundaries as performers. The best string quartet playing happens when members are not afraid to feel vulnerable in front of each other; the G major quartet prompted a new level of emotional maturity in us which we had desired but not found until working on this monumental piece.”

The Jubilee String Quartet’s decision to focus solely on Schubert grew from their immersion in the music of Haydn. Staying with the music of one composer, notes Privratska, has strengthened the bond between the quartet’s players and sharpened their musical insights. They also drew inspiration from listening to German baritone Christian Gerhaher’s natural delivery of the composer’s Lieder. The quartet plans to record a second Schubert album, which will include ‘Death and the Maiden’ and the Quartettsatz D703.

“When we were at music college we wanted to learn as many pieces by as many different composers as possible, to expand our understanding of musical styles and get a taste of each composer’s musical language. But when you switch quickly between composers, do you really get to experience a true understanding of their creative voice? After releasing our Haydn album, we felt we had really lived and loved the process of discovering his thoughts. And therefore it was clear to us we must do the same with Schubert. There’s nothing more beautiful than four people coming together and being open to such discovery.”

Just as the Jubilee String Quartet felt ‘at home’ with Haydn, their absorption in Schubert brought them closer to the personal emotions and feelings that flow through his music. The process of rehearsing, performing and recording invited the group to reflect on the striking contrasts of mood encompassed within the four movements of Schubert’s G major quartet, completed less than eighteen months before his death. The technical challenging work confronts its players and listeners with the dramatic uncertainties and ambiguities of existence.

“Have you ever had a strong need to speak about something dark while knowing that people don’t want to hear what you have to say because they would rather remain in a good mood?,” asks Tereza Privratska. “Schubert’s G major communicates the darkest moments in life in combination with the most naive and innocent form of being. As performers we always hope that our listeners are ready to open up to such a wide range of emotion within one composition. That’s what music is about, after all – communicating emotions in the most rhetorical way possible.”

NOTES FOR EDITORS

The Jubilee String Quartet

The Jubilee String Quartet, formed in 2006, takes its name from the Jubilee Line on the Underground. Their lengthy list of achievements includes first prizes from the 2013 St Martin’s Chamber Music Competition and the 2019 Gianni Bergamo Chamber Music Competition in Lugano, performances throughout the UK and Europe, and the Jubilee String Quartet Academy, a series of live-streamed online courses launched in response to Covid lockdowns and designed to reach young quartet players and music lovers. Their work to rebuild music education in schools and the wider community in the wake of the pandemic has received support from the Help Musicians Transmission Fund and the Royal Philharmonic Society Fund.