String Quartet No. 2 ''From the Monkey Mountains'', parts (urtext); Pavel Haas (Barenreiter)

Pavel Haas was one of Leos Janacek’s most gifted students. His String Quartet No. 2 ''From the Monkey Mountains'' is considered to be one of the first high points of his oeuvre. The ''Monkey Mountains'' of the title refers to the nickname of the Moravian Highlands; the movements thus carry elements of Moravian life, including the bold, expansive ''Landscapes'', the characteristic and humorous ''Coach, Coachman, and Horse'', and the lyrical, mysterious ''The Moon and I...''--the latter of which featuring a gorgeous viola solo.

The most stunning movement, though, is ''Wild Nights'', where Haas combines elements of Janacek’s compositional technique with jazz in its instrumentation for string quartet and (optional) percussion ad libitum. This version was premiered in Brno in 1926; later, the work was revised for string quartet only. For this edition Ondrej Pivoda has reconstructed the original version, bringing to light passages that were never published until now.

This is the first critical edition of the work. It is based on all relevant sources, taking sketches of the final version of the score and contemporary performance material into account. It includes an extensive Foreword (Cz/Eng/Ger) as well as a Critical Commentary (Eng).