String Quartets Vol. 1: Opp. 96 ' American ' & 106

"The Melos players externalize the profundity of this remarkable work with effortless ease."
- Jan Smaczny BBC Magazine September 2001

"The Vlach Quartet responds to this music very well, and is particularly impressive in the variations of Op. 97, as well as the nostalgic coda of its opening movement."
- BBC Music Magazine (Misha Donat) June 2001

"Quite aside from the ordinary question of value for money which arises willy-nilly when a Naxos CD is under consideration, this recording joins the short list of effective and the much shorter list of presentable performances of the Quartet in G. The recording is airy but firmly detailed. Recommended!"
- Fanfare (U.S.A.) - May/June 1996


The members of the Vlach Quartet Prague are the violinists Jana Vlachov- and Karel Stadherr, the viola-player Peter Verner and the cellist Mikael Ericsson.

The Vlach Quartet Prague follows a rich tradition of Czech chamber music and is the successor to the famous Vlach Quartet led by the violinist Josef Vlach, father of Jana Vlachová, and a strong influence on the work of the newer ensemble.

Formerly the New Vlach Quartet, the ensemble was founded in 1982, winning its first distinguished awards the following year and, in 1985, first prize in the International String Quartet Competition in Portsmouth.

In addition to concert tours throughout Europe the quartet is active in the recording and broadcasting studios. In 1991, the quartet won the prize of the Czech Society for Chamber Music and the following year the prize of the Czech Music Fund for its recording of quartets by Smetana and Janá èek.

For Naxos, The Vlach Quartet has recorded six very well-received discs of Dvorak's string quartets as well as the two remarkable Janáèek quartets and, on Marco Polo, quartets by the Swedish composer and "Renaissance Man" John Fernstrom (1897-1961).