Skampa Quartet - Reviews

"Ever since their debut in 1993, the Škampas have always offered audiences a veritable workout for mind, body and soul"

Škampa Quartet proves reputation well-founded

Over the past two decades the Skampa has earned a reputation as one of the great Czech quartets… And when they finished playing a scant two hours later, they proved beyond any doubt that their reputation is well-founded.

The group exhibited wonderful musicality and an amazing sense of interpretation. They brought passion and excitement to their playing and their interpretations were perceptive, intelligent, lucid and thoughtful. The Skampa is indeed a quartet that will be around for a long time.

Edward Reichel, Deseret News, Salt Lake City, 26. Oct. 2010

New York, Peoples' Symphony Concerts

The Škampa are repeat visitors to PSC, and their visits are eagerly anticipated, because this is one of the best European string quartets, and they surely lived up to their reputation last night… I was struck by the depth of their beautiful sound… The audience was so stunned by the quiet ending [Shostakovich's 8th String Quartet]… that there was prolonged silence before the vociferous ovation.

Professor Arthur S. Leonard , Leonard Link October 31, 2010

They perform with utterly convincing stylistic accuracy and phenomenal, explosive intensity. Their performances are vital, alive, crisp and rhythmic, their tonal blend is beautiful and flawless, their phrasing spacious and subtle and no detail is ever ignored.

Brian Paynes, Westmorland Gazette, March 2010

East Neuk Festival

The highlight of these performances - and indeed the whole festival - was the concert featuring Janáček's two quartets; these mercurial, challenging masterpieces delivered with the apparent spontaneity that perhaps only long familiarity can bring….

The Škampa Quartet played the repertoire with which it is most closely associated - that of its Czech homeland. No other quartet can play this music quite like the Škampas, whose interest in Czech folk music underpins a high-octane style of delivery.“

Rowena Smith, The Guardian, July 2008

Czechxellence

"From the opening bars there was an appealing, buoying sense of purity… the four handling Mozart's [K.589] surprising turns with effortless excellence...The evening's crowning glory was a Ravel to treasure... a hushed, warm, velvety and sensuous performance that lit up the dark hall... The Škampa stayed on top of ...[John Adams' Book of Alleged Dances] with the same kind of knowing consistency they showed in the Ravel. Hard to play? Hard, nothing; some of it is just impossible. – The Skampa made it look - and sound - easy."

Janos Gereben, San Francisco Classical Voice, April 2006

“The quartet’s dynamic approach was breathtaking…the beauty of their playing stems from deep musical intelligence.”

The Independent, January 2006

“Blistering might be the overall description of how the Škampas played. Every nuance, every colour – from warm, soothing tone to terrifying rasping sul ponticello, with the widest of dynamic range, was delivered with white-hot energy.”

The Independent, December 2005

“Founded in 1989, the Skampa Quartet is widely regarded as one of the most important chamber ensembles to have emerged from the post-communist Czech Republic. Their style is idiosyncratic and distinctive: in place of the nuanced intimacy favoured by many string quartets, they adopt a high-voltage approach that is all in-your-face drama and epic sweep.” [Wigmore Hall, London]

Tim Ashley, The Guardian, October 2005

"The Škampas showed all the warmth, grace and occasionally explosive expertise which has made them such a welcome by-product of Czechoslovakia's 'velvet revolution'. As yet merely fashionable, they could in time become the Amadeus de nos jours.“

Anthony Holden, The Observer, November 2003

“It may be no surprise that the Škampa Quartet should have mastered the idioms of their homeland. Every moment from bizarre harmonics to powerful climaxes, was integrated into the ebb and flow of the whole drama [Janáček String Quartets]…these were profoundly uplifting performances”

The Guardian, January 2002

“Ever since their debut in 1993, the Škampas have always offered audiences a veritable workout for mind, body and soul”

The Times, September 2001

“…standard repertoire it may be but I couldn’t hear Brahm’s chamber music too often when the performances are as complete as these [Škampa Quartet with Naoko Shimizu]

The Strad, September 2001

"They played [Janacek's First Quartet] with the drama of a four-movement opera.... For all their intuitive strengths playing Janacek, in a late Beethoven Quartet [Op. 127] they had as much to offer. In the Adagio, the most difficult to carry, they maintained shapely, beautifully spun long lines."

The Washington Post, Feb 1998

"...the playing from the young group was remarkable, vital and involving from the opening bars of the Schubert movement.... Chamber music rarely gets any better than this."

The Age (Melbourne),October 1997

"Intensity and vigor are the hallmarks of the Škampa Quartet …a laudable combination of passion and finesse... The Czech musicians perform as a unit, one which thinks together, yet the individual players retain their personalities."

Los Angeles Times, April 1997

"Among the many joys of going to the Wigmore in recent years has been the opportunity to watch the Škampa Quartet steadily grow in stature through its residency at the Hall."

Tully Potter, The Strad, July 1997

"Visits to the Wigmore Hall by its resident Škampa Quartet have become red-letter dates in London's chamber music season, and their return on Saturday fulfilled all expectations … The Škampas play with urgent, communicative intensity. Their collective sound is bold and exciting, based on warm tone and vigorous attack. They can make any dissonance heartachingly beautiful …"

John Allison, The Times, May 1996

"They are one of the best young quartets around, as their all-Schubert programme amply demonstrated … no lover of chamber music should miss them."

Harriet Smith, The Strad, December 1995

"It has the smoothness and virtuosity favored by modern string quartets, but it also inherits an older Central European tradition of string playing, one is which music is as warmly inflected as a conversation."

New York Times, December 1995