String Quartet No. 1 in E minor, "From My Life" (1876)
String Quartet No. 2 in D minor (1883)
"Dance of the Comedians" from the opera The Bartered Bride

The aspects I admire the most about the String Quartets by Bedrich Smetana (1824-1884) are their overt musicality, down-to-earth expression, and absence of academia. As with most of the music by Czech composers, there's an earthy, folklore tinged ageless trait to his music with which I'm sure the Zemlinsky Quartet feel an innate bond.

For example, they insert a highly rustic character into the joyful, country dance demeanor of the Allegro moderato second movement from the Quartet No. 2 in D minor. A surprising segment when you consider that by then Bedrich Smetana was completely deaf and rather unhappy. Here, even the Zemlinsky's strong rubato inflections sound totally natural and impromptu, yet at the same time, seem perfectly synchronized. At the opposite end of the spectrum, they deliver a truly warm, heartfelt and genuine account of the mellifluous Largo sostenuto movement from the Quartet No. 1 in E minor, and energetically dig into the strings at all the crucial moments.

They end the program with a lively, somewhat comical and over-the-top arrangement (by the quartet's viola player Petr Holman) of the Dance of the Comedians from The Bartered Bride. The brunt of the Zemlinsky Quartet's previous discography is mostly focused on chamber works by many Czech composers. It's clearly obvious in this new recording that their homeland music is in their blood.

I don't know about you, but when it comes to cover art, I'm guessing small independent labels can teach a thing or two to major labels about cover design. In my humble opinion, and during my 30 years in classical music retail management I've seen more than my share of album covers, I believe this CD cover image perfectly matches and even evokes the music of Smetana. It's a painting titled "A Street Corner in Prague" by Jakub Schikaneder from 1924.