Stamitz Quartett - Die Streichquartette (Hába: Complete String Quartets) (2025)

Enthusiasts of microtonality have long been frustrated by the limited number of recordings that document this fascinating area of modern music. Fortunately for them, a landmark set has been released on Bayer Records by the Stamitz Quartet, presenting all 16 string quartets and a handful of shorter pieces by Czech composer and microtonal pioneer Alois Hába. His string quartets are firmly rooted in Western chamber music, so his chordal formations, rhythmic patterns, independent voice leading, and melodic shapes are quite similar to features of post-Romantic and early modern quartets. Yet Hába's music has this remarkable difference: his scales are seldom the familiar diatonic or chromatic scales of the even-tempered system, but more often scales with subdivisions of the octave into third-tone, quarter-tone, fifth-tone, and even sixth-tone systems. Hába's family came from a rich folk music tradition that relied on such small variances of intonation, so it naturally became the focal point of his work, in much the same way that aspects of Hungarian folk music profoundly influenced the ideas of Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály. Even though the String Quartet No. 1 (1919) is quite conventional in its tonal framework, and sounds as one might expect for its time period, most of the works from the String Quartet No. 2, Op. 7, "In Quarter-Tone System" (1920), to the Diary Notes, Op. 101 (1970) explore the possibilities of Hába's advanced research in microtonality and give admirers of alternative tunings a highly rewarding cycle to study and appreciate. The Stamitz Quartet plays these works with remarkable control, and one can only marvel at the group's fluency in this intricately notated music. Yet there is more to the performances than mathematical accuracy in dividing intervals. In their intense emotions, engaging conversational exchanges, and dramatic highpoints, these vivid readings feel utterly authoritative; it's hard to imagine any other ensemble improving on these exceptional interpretations. Bayer's sound is fabulous, so every nuance of these incredibly subtle works can be heard and the quartet's rich timbres are amply conveyed in the warm reproduction.