Press Reference
It was simply splendid, how (the Bennewitz Quartet) approached the Second String Quartet, a late work of Smetana which is, unfortunately, performed only rarely. It was full of contrasts and emotions, and yet with a certain inner turmoil, until the final stretta began to radiate. Sustained applause.(David Koch, Luzerner Zeitung, 11 September 2008)
The four young musicians from Prague… swept their audience into a turmoil of emotions, stretching tension in the form of melodies over the registers, building up rhythm and melody, and relishing the play with and between harmony and finest dissonance up to the climax… Janáček demands a lot from his musicians – no problem for the Bennewitz Quartet.
(hat, Rems-Zeitung, 25th July 2008)
The Bennewitz Quartet was able to build up and keep the arc of suspense. Each for himself, in his own body and sound language, told the musical story of the composer. In continual mutual listening, they passed motifs to each other, captured them in solos, and came together tempestuously in a musical embrace.
(Hanna Meid, Gmünder Tagespost, 24th July 2008)
…The performance of Bennewitz Quartet proved that even the ear of an experienced listener may again wonder. The standards of the four young Czechs have grown once again. The congenial fresh passion did not take away any of the precision with which they played the early Mozart’s piece (KV 80) allowing the listener to enjoy every detail of every tone. It was a genial dialog centered around the different personalities of the two violinists. While the first violinist Jiří Němeček played out his intellect, Štěpán Ježek took us away by his emotional vivacity. It was the perfect entirety of the ensemble the audience rewarded by its ardent applause.
(Saarbrücker Zeitung 4th July 2007)
Triumphant
The five Bach fugues in Mozart’s arrangement for the string quartet (KV 405) made one foresee the potential of the musicians: admirable were, apart from the clear structuring of music, also the acoustically beautiful tone colour and the intonational purity of the performance. Very rarely does one experience so elaborately and effectively sounded harmonies. Thrillingly and with a secure feel for the gesturing of the piece, the musicians performed Leoš Janáček’s Second String Quartet “Intimate Letters”, and the enormous contrasts of Franz Schubert’s String Quartet G Major D 887. For the applause, the musicians thanked with a simply, clearly and touchingly played Bach hymn. Great art.
(Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 16th December 2006)
The rushing Allegro assai (of Schubert's quartet G major D887) showed, once again, the musicians as masters of fine nuances. Technical difficulties seemed to be no issue, being taken as it were for granted. What stood in the foreground were performance and musical expression, which were mediated to the listeners most beautifully.
(Badisches Tagblatt, 2nd December 2006)
