The ideal of the Jerusalem Quartet is to sound like a single instrument: homogeneous in sound, rhythmically precise and full of expressive power. The two works presented by the ensemble in this concert were influenced by the Second World War: Béla Bartók’s melancholic String Quartet from 1939 and Sergei Prokofiev’s Second Quartet from 1941. Written in the North Caucasus, the composer evocatively integrates folk music from the area. There are also flashes of folklore in Dmitri Shostakovich's powerful Tenth String Quartet, composed in Armenia in 1964.
Jerusalem Quartet
Alexander Pavlovsky violin
Sergei Bresler violin
Ori Kam viola
Kyril Zlotnikov cello
Sergei Prokofiev
String Quartet No. 2 in F major, op. 92 "On Kabardinian Themes"
Dmitri Shostakovich
String Quartet No. 10 in A flat major, op. 118
Béla Bartók
String Quartet No. 6, Sz 114